2016 Australian Grand Prix lap times and fastest laps

2016 Australian Grand Prix

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Daniel Ricciardo set the fastest lap of the Australian Grand Prix using super-soft tyres eight laps from the end of the race.

The fastest time by a driver using ther soft compound was Sebastian Vettel’s 1’30.137, set on lap 51. However Nico Rosberg was able to get within 0.4 seconds of that time on the harder medium compound and he did it 30 laps earlier in the race when fuel loads would have been higher.

Compare all the drivers’ lap times from the race below.

2016 Australian Grand Prix lap times

All the lap times by the drivers (in seconds, very slow laps excluded). Scroll to zoom, drag to pan and toggle drivers using the control below:

2016 Australian Grand Prix fastest laps

Each driver’s fastest lap:

RankDriverCarFastest lapGapOn lap
1Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’28.99749
2Sebastian VettelFerrari1’29.9510.95423
3Nico RosbergMercedes1’30.5571.56021
4Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’30.6461.64948
5Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’30.7011.70421
6Max VerstappenToro Rosso-Ferrari1’31.5162.51944
7Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Ferrari1’31.6712.67423
8Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Honda1’31.6842.68733
9Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’32.2883.29139
10Kevin MagnussenRenault1’32.4523.45545
11Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’32.5533.55614
12Pascal WehrleinManor-Mercedes1’32.6733.67634
13Felipe NasrSauber-Ferrari1’32.7113.71448
14Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’32.7253.72851
15Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’32.7803.78339
16Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’32.8333.83649
17Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’32.8623.86548
18Jolyon PalmerRenault1’32.9553.95814
19Esteban GutierrezHaas-Ferrari1’32.9984.0014
20Rio HaryantoManor-Mercedes1’33.8474.85015
21Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari1’33.8924.89515

2016 Australian Grand Prix

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Author information

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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25 comments on “2016 Australian Grand Prix lap times and fastest laps”

  1. I’m very happy for Haas but I’m sad for Manor. Their car is seriously good this year: Pascal was able to run very well in the midfield today, he stayed there on merit after a superb start. I hope they manage points this year, it looks really possible. They seemed to be on par with Sauber.

    1. what is disappointing is the race lap times of f1 cars at Melbourne in 2016… after the times of a decade ago, this shows f1 has not improved, the racing has not improved – not much overtaking at this race, the spectacle (speed and sound) has got worse. we just keep hoping for close race fights and a close championship in this deteriorated era. the only thing that saves f1 is that it is “F1” – in that it the most promoted series and promoted as being “the best” – even when it is not. the prestige factor has saved it, and it probably will for the next decade if it continues to get worse….

      1. Melbourne has never been great for passing and compared to what an Australian GP looked like 10 or 15 years ago there was a lot of passing today. You say we keep hoping for close race fights, well, how much closer did you want 6th through 10th to be?

      2. “what is disappointing is the race lap times of f1 cars at Melbourne in 2016… after the times of a decade ago, this shows f1 has not improved”

        I don’t know what you mean by “have not improved” but I think technologically F1 and WEC have evolved dramatically over the past two decades and it is great news for motorsports and road car business.

        One can question how much better our worse has racing become, but looking at F1 as forest, not a tree, it has got better in many fronts like engine efficiency and safety.

    2. Exactly @fer-no65, I said the same thing immediately after the race. Pascal’s first stint was really quite strong and he was hurt badly by (a) a really slow pit stop and (b) the red flag. He did the 12th quickest race lap to boot, quicker than both Sauber’s, both Force India’s, both Haas’, Palmer’s Renault and Bottas’ Williams.

      Manor should be able to sneak points this season. The battle for 8th-11th in the championship isn’t over because Grosjean bagged a result in Melbourne.

  2. Mclaren is on for a much better season after a horrible 2015, yet still lightyears away from realizing Alonso’s title hopes (if that still exists of course)

    …and look where Wehrlein’s Manor is on the table!

  3. I was very happy to see how long the supersoft lasted on Ricciardo and Vettel. They both did at least 4/5 fastest laps each in a row.

    1. Can anyone point me to a simple results table that will tell me who finished where? Like 1st 2nd 3rd etc? Sounds silly but no sites I visit seem to have published one!

      1. https://www.racefans.net/2016/03/20/2016-australian-grand-prix-result-2/ @baron – actually at the bottom of this article, and other articles about this race ,there’s a link to all articles on the race, from there you can find them all, though for the first ones you’ll have to scroll down a bit. Hope that helps.

      2. @baron @bosyber It’s also in the ‘Australian GP’ menu at the top of the page: ‘Result’.

  4. So after analyzing the times I can confirm that the peaking order in race trim is:
    1. Merc 2. Ferrari 3. RBR 4. TR 5. Williams 6. FI 7. McL 8. Renault 9. Hass 10. Sauber 11. Manor

    But some cars are more forgiving with their tires. These are from the most friendly to the most cheewy
    1. RBR 2. Ferrari 3. Merc 4. Torro Rosso 5. FI 6. Hass 7. McL 8. Williams 9. Hass 10. Sauber 11. Manor

    We must remember though that Albert Park is far from a traditional track so the above may vary. My prediction for race result in Bahrain (where the temps are higher and the deg is massive) is: Ferrari first, Merc and RBR (don’t know in which order) and TR and Williams (not in that order if the new nose is any good).

    But at least I think that we will have a championship in our hands because of the gaps are smaller and there are 3 types of tires so someone can risk a different strategy (like merc today) ……. bring it on!!!!

    1. Where is Renault?

      1. So sorry……. 9. Renault, scrap the second Hass….

        1. And so sorry for Haas not Hass.

    2. Chris Phillips
      20th March 2016, 15:17

      Mclaren behind Force India – according to the fastest time stats not. Interested how you got this ranking?

      1. the peaking order in not for Aus only, but for every track.

        1. Chris Phillips
          20th March 2016, 15:24

          You mean from testing too? Surely no longer representative? (Then again Aus track isnt representative either I guess!).

      2. And Button was on the SS in his fastest lap. FI did change to Medium when the race was red flagged.

    3. I would say it’s much too early to draw conclusions about the overall state of play. Given both that this is the first race of the season and the limited dry running in practice to prepare, whilst it seems very likely that it’s Mercedes followed by Ferrari, I think trying to determine the order for the “midfield” will take a few races.

  5. So Mercedes went almost 7 seconds slower per lap than their qualifying capability. In fact they only went .4 of a second faster than they did 12 months ago.

    Glad I didnt spend any time watching this Melbourne Park sight seeing tour.

    1. You forgot they did the majority of the race on mediums. Hamilton’s fastest is only 1.6s slower but his tyres were almost 30 laps old when he did it.
      Is obvious that they could go much faster than that with softs or a 2 stop strategy.

  6. Jahul Karkoji
    20th March 2016, 19:46

    Very good pace from Kimi!, would have loved to see him on the podium after that slow stop and error from Vettel. Too bad that didn’t happen.

  7. One thing I don’t understand is if it was Ferrari’s decision to be aggressive and go for supersofts at the restart, why did they at least not put a new set of them?
    Looking at the lap times, the 5 lap old supersofts just gave them 2 more good laps after which they were no better than Nico’s fresh mediums. The safety car and subsequent stop and the warm up lap after that is bound to put the tyres through an unnecessary stress cycle of dropping and rising temperature, that surely must have resulted in lower tyre life. Look at Vettel’s first supersoft stint, the lap times rise, but slowly and consistently.. His second set didn’t however follow the same pattern.

    1. They didnt had another set. That was the set they saved by not trying another lap on Q3.

  8. Max Verstappen said he was faster than Carlos Sainz. Well, now we know.

    Nice enhancements to the charts!

    The top 8 qualifiers were all running SuperSofts. Interesting to see the effect on LapTimes it had when these SS were “finished”. And which drivers were a bit better (compared to team mate) in managing the tyres.

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