Ferrari and Red Bull closely matched on early stints

Australian GP FP1 analysis

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Fernando Alonso, Ferrari, Melbourne, 2011

Mark Webber was over a second faster than Fernando Alonso in first practice.

But Red Bull and Ferrari were much more closely-matched over longer runs in first practice.

Longest stint comparison

The graph below compares the lap times done by each driver during their longest stint. Use the controls below to show and hide different laps.

A few points of note:

https://www.racefans.net/charts/2011drivercolours.csv

12345678910111213
Sebastian Vettel98.12690.15488.43494.00987.86987.73988.06594.967
Mark Webber89.31687.4597.09889.63386.831
Lewis Hamilton91.31590.67990.0597.44390.28290.33990.51792.10390.11290.33891.08890.4893.559
Jenson Button89.46689.40988.94689.37790.00293.12489.70689.92994.83590.26990.74590.69590.44
Fernando Alonso89.43695.36588.81993.07587.95887.749
Felipe Massa92.27588.92793.96991.28388.842105.029109.259
Michael Schumacher89.20488.78299.71388.965107.35888.69
Nico Rosberg88.15293.97595.75489.8394.5390.081
Nick Heidfeld96.92796.24891.20191.76790.12289.381
Vitaly Petrov93.57595.34490.47789.04288.765
Rubens Barrichello94.43988.59497.36888.60688.43
Pastor Maldonado104.35191.65790.242101.65492.30489.9689.403
Adrian Sutil91.57994.42392.94289.314
Nico Hulkenberg98.75596.56193.55593.75492.81893.7198.216
Kamui Kobayashi94.05593.32990.89194.73390.67789.375
Sergio Perez99.46593.79791.43495.95290.32297.47689.686
Sebastien Buemi91.94890.70490.12290.26389.979
Daniel Ricciardo101.23796.08694.562105.42993.06191.973
Heikki Kovalainen94.87593.28892.428103.26795.9895.116
Karun Chandhok
Narain Karthikeyan
Vitantonio Liuzzi
Timo Glock96.75795.549
Jerome d’Ambrosio100.93897.60699.85695.76795.28299.29595.372

Ultimate lap times

An ultimate lap is a driver’s best three sector times added together.

Sergio Perez looks to have comparable pace to team mate Kamui Kobayashi.

But there are no comforting signs for Virgin in their sector times. First practice indicates they’re over two seconds slower than the 107% time. If they can’t beat that in Q1, they won’t be allowed to start the race.

CarDriverCarUltimate lapGapDeficit to best
12Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’26.8280.003
21Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’27.1460.3180.012
35Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’27.7490.9210.000
48Nico RosbergMercedes1’27.9561.1280.196
511Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth1’28.1611.3330.269
64Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’28.4151.5870.025
77Michael SchumacherMercedes1’28.4621.6340.228
83Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1’28.4831.6550.000
916Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1’28.7251.8970.000
1010Vitaly PetrovRenault1’28.7651.9370.000
116Felipe MassaFerrari1’28.7711.9430.071
129Nick HeidfeldRenault1’28.8492.0210.079
1317Sergio PerezSauber-Ferrari1’29.0542.2260.589
1414Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’29.2372.4090.077
1519Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso-Ferrari1’29.2932.4650.175
1618Sebastien BuemiToro Rosso-Ferrari1’29.3062.4780.022
1712Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Cosworth1’29.4032.5750.000
1815Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’31.0024.1740.000
1920Heikki KovalainenLotus-Renault1’32.2675.4390.161
2024Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth1’35.0658.2370.224
2125Jerome d’AmbrosioVirgin-Cosworth1’35.1558.3270.127

Complete first practice times

CarDriverCarBest lapGapStint lapAt timeLaps
12Mark WebberRed Bull-Renault1’26.8315/59220
21Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’27.1580.3272/58819
35Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’27.7490.9186/68020
48Nico RosbergMercedes1’28.1521.3211/68416
511Rubens BarrichelloWilliams-Cosworth1’28.4301.5995/59324
64Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’28.4401.6091/15429
73Lewis HamiltonMcLaren-Mercedes1’28.4831.6526/65026
87Michael SchumacherMercedes1’28.6901.8596/69114
916Kamui KobayashiSauber-Ferrari1’28.7251.8942/28413
1010Vitaly PetrovRenault1’28.7651.9345/59215
116Felipe MassaFerrari1’28.8422.0115/77220
129Nick HeidfeldRenault1’28.9282.0973/39214
1314Adrian SutilForce India-Mercedes1’29.3142.4834/49119
1418Sebastien BuemiToro Rosso-Ferrari1’29.3282.4974/49221
1512Pastor MaldonadoWilliams-Cosworth1’29.4032.5727/79024
1619Daniel RicciardoToro Rosso-Ferrari1’29.4682.6374/58823
1717Sergio PerezSauber-Ferrari1’29.6432.8122/68518
1815Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’31.0024.1713/34720
1920Heikki KovalainenLotus-Renault1’32.4285.5973/65713
2025Jerome d’AmbrosioVirgin-Cosworth1’35.2828.4515/78917
2124Timo GlockVirgin-Cosworth1’35.2898.4581/18115
2221Karun ChandhokLotus-Renault

2011 Australian Grand Prix


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    Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    9 comments on “Ferrari and Red Bull closely matched on early stints”

    1. Very worrying there for Virgin. I really don’t think any team that gets DNQ’S will last a season. Still, at least they have done some laps, lets see if HRT can get their cars together in time!

      1. My thoughts exactly. Good to see McLaren finally get some longer stints done :-p

    2. this is quite interesting. I think it’s unfair to say Rubens was best of the rest, given that he has split the Mercedes and Ferraris and beaten both McLarens. What would be fairer is to put Williams in the leading pack, and say McLaren are the best of the rest.

      However, if a McLaren can do 20% or more longer stints, then ultimate lap means very little. Imagine if they can somehow pull a race in two tops when most of the rest are doing three if not four.

      If it’s worse than that, and most teams are doing five pit stops, then it’s even more possible that one team can smoothly get away with a full stop or two less than those blistering their tyres.

      This is so godamn exciting I almost wet myself

      1. Considering McLaren have now topped P2, those stint times appear very consistent. McLaren could be very dangerous this season.

    3. That last table is great Keith, just what we needed to understand a bit of thos times. McLaren is a lot slower, but hteir fastest laps were set much earlier in the session.

      A bit of a worry for Virgin.

    4. I like the new “Complete first practice times” with stints and so on.
      I just wish there was an option to “untick all” in the lap time graph! I find it very annoying to have to click every name and to find some info..

      1. there is a select all/select none button isn’t there??. its right above the drivers name

    5. They are the top 2 but I still think that may be Red Bull have a better edge over the other teams.

    6. Not really surprising McLaren were out in force given their testing…or lack of.

    Comments are closed.