The Red Bull drivers gave different views of how serious a threat rivals Ferrari are after the first day of practice for the Australian Grand Prix.
Sergio Perez’s day went according to schedule but he was concerned about how quickly his tyres faded during a long run in second practice.“Overall I think we’ve got some work to do,” he told the official F1 channel. “The degradation wasn’t great on that long run, so there’s some work to do and go from there.”
Perez endured a poor weekend at the track 12 months ago but feels he is in better shape this year. “I think we are in a good place,” he said. “So we should be looking strong for tomorrow.”
However after seeing Charles Leclerc set the fastest time of the today, Perez warned Ferrari look “quite strong” in Melbourne. “I think this track seems to be better for them.
“They’ve been quite strong also in the long run. So I think they will be quite a challenge to beat this weekend.”
Red Bull finished first and second in the opening races of 2024 but Perez predicted a stronger challenge from Ferrari this weekend. “I think they’re generally quite fast,” he said, “so that will be interesting.”
His team mate Max Verstappen is less concerned by the threat from Ferrari, despite losing time in the second practice session after damaging his floor by going off track.
“Unfortunately it was a little bit messy because of what happened in FP1,” he said. “I went wide, damaged the floor and also the chassis.
“It took a little bit long to to fix that, unfortunately, so I lost like 20 minutes. But I do think the turnaround was very quick, what we did as a team. So I more or less completed the program still. I would have like maybe a few more laps, but with missing 20 minutes that’s how it goes.”
After lapping three-tenths of a second slower than Leclerc, Verstappen admitted the Ferrari “is quick” but said Red Bull have pace in hand. “From our side I think there are also a few more things that we can fine-tune. So nothing crazy, nothing worrying, I think just need to fine-tune a little bit the car.”
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2024 Australian Grand Prix
- Alonso calls Australian GP penalty a ‘one-off I’ve had too many of’
- Red Bull saw warning sign of Australian GP brake problem on Saturday – Verstappen
- Failing to punish Alonso would have “opened a can of worms” – Russell
- Leclerc sure “many team principals” are pursuing Sainz for 2025 seat
- “Don’t put me under pressure” – The best unheard team radio from Melbourne
BasCB (@bascb)
22nd March 2024, 8:36
I wholly expect Red Bull to show at least another 3-4 tenths of speed once we get to Q3 tomorrow. Another Max-Leclerc front row, with Perez somewhere in the top 5 (I guess Norris, Sainz, Russel and Stroll or Alonso, might be in that top few rows too depending on how well they get a lap together).
For the race, I wholly expect Max to run away with it and Perez to try and get on the second spot, I hope we will get a bit of a fight for it.
Le Jimster (@lejimster82)
22nd March 2024, 16:58
As long as it’s dry and Perez follows the formula he’s been doing so far this year, I expect him to be pretty close to the front in qualifying. The Ferraris looked impressive, but I expect when Red Bull turn the engine up they will still have that superiority, especially in race trim.
It’s Melbourne tho, I expect mistakes, crashes and red flags. I’ve seen a lot of costly mistakes across F2 and F1 this weekend. We could end up with a mixed up grid 🤞
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
22nd March 2024, 11:20
Vowles stated that upon arrival, he discovered that the team still relies on Excel files for car part inventory. This tells you everything you need to know about the current state of disarray at Williams.
sinewave (@sinewave)
22nd March 2024, 11:51
I don’t see the problem in using excell for inventory list. Maybe I am not following trends, what makes excell so outdated?
BasCB (@bascb)
22nd March 2024, 12:35
Try thinking about the sheer amount of dependencies one needs to plan the whole process.
As mentioned in the article about this – a thing like a front wing is build up of hundreds of parts including hyrdaulics, carbon fibre elements, steel parts etc. All of them can have different lead times, vary in how much they can be batch produced or not (to allow for development making aero surfaces only in small numbers since they change all the time) and need hugely varying times on mills, in autoclaves in finishing etc.
An Excel sheet might work when you have a few hundreds of things to keep track of and a relatively stable set of parts, but not with the complexity of an F1 car and the constant change needed and being hugely time sensitive to get them to the track where needed.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
22nd March 2024, 13:32
Just to add on what @bascb have said :
Scalability will be difficult to manage using Excel files where for example RDBMS systems are designed to handle large volumes of data efficiently, making them suitable for managing extensive inventories and complex datasets. RDBMS systems also provide features such as data validation and transaction management, which ensure the accuracy and consistency of data.
RDBMS systems support concurrent access by multiple users, allowing multiple users to work with the inventory data simultaneously without risking data corruption or inconsistency. Excel files, on the other hand, are prone to locking conflicts and may not handle concurrent access well.
Furthermore, RDBMS systems offer powerful querying capabilities, allowing users to retrieve and analyze data using SQL that makes it easier to generate reports, perform analysis, and extract insights from the inventory data.
Another important aspect is security and preventing unauthorized access to the data: RDBMS systems provide built-in security features such as user authentication, access control, and data encryption, which help protect sensitive inventory data from unauthorized access or tampering. Excel files, especially when shared via email or stored on network drives, are more vulnerable to security breaches.
MichaelN
22nd March 2024, 11:20
That’s a nice photo! Always much better to see the cars on tracks surrounded by grass in broad daylight than the night time urban greys.
Pérez thinking Ferrari will be ‘quite a challenge to beat this weekend’ does not sound that credible given Red Bull’s still big long run advantage over the other teams. But on the positive side, this was probably the only time back in 2022 that Ferrari properly dominated the weekend, so who knows. Sainz was pretty good last year too. Maybe they can put some pressure on Pérez; that’d be fun.
Yellow Baron
22nd March 2024, 12:12
Love track that have grass. Of course they can’t use too much especially with how slippery it is in the rain. Wouldn’t mind some green gravel though lol