[F1] – Good morning (or rather, good night) dear readers of FormulaPassion.it and welcome to the appointment dedicated to the text report of the first free practice session of Australian Grand Prixthird act of the 2023 F1 championship.
Is there a challenger for Red Bull?
The RB19s of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez have so far dominated the appointments in Bahrain and Arabia, sharing pole positions and victories. Only the fastest lap set by the two-time reigning world champion in Jeddah allows the Dutchman to precede his boxmate by just one point in the standings. Albert Park is a decidedly particular circuit and starting from this first free practice session we will be able to begin to understand if there will be an opponent for Red Bull this weekend. A year ago Charles Leclerc and Ferrari dominated in Melbourne. 12 months later, the situation for the Scuderia di Maranello looks decidedly less rosy.
03.56 – 14th time for the McLaren driver, mistake for Russell who lifts his foot. Soft rubber now also for Sainz.
03.54 – Throws Plates with soft rubber. Behind him Russell with the same tire.
03.52 – The only driver without time is Lando Norris. 18th and 19th position for Zhou and Bottas with the Alfa Romeos.
03.50 – Verstappen drops below 1’19”: 1’18″790.
03.49 – Fourth time for Albon, fifth for Nyck De Vries.
03.48 – Verstappen signals via radio that according to him the problem is the setting of the rear brakes.
03.47 – Verstappen replies to Perez, but there are only 15 thousandths of an advantage even with the soft tyre: 1’19″278 the new reference.
03.45 – This is the top-10 after the first 15 minutes of PL1: Perez takes the lead in 1’19″293.
1. Perez
2. Verstappen
3. Stroll
4. Gasly
5. Albon
6. Hamilton
7. Sainz
8. Leclerc
9. Russell
10. Tsunoda
03.44 – Fifth Sainz, seventh Leclerc at the end of their third timed lap.
03.43 – Hamilton lost the rear in the very fast left-right and managed to keep control of the car.
03.42 – Leclerc is working with hard rubber like Sainz, the SF-23 #16 is equipped with a camera in front of the bottom tie rod to monitor the behavior of the car.
03.41 – Digression in the gravel for Magnussen in Turn-3.
03.40 – You take the head now Max in 1’19″332Perez is two tenths away, but with the medium tyre.
03.39 – Via radio, Verstappen reported that the changes are terrible, both when shifting and downshifting.
03.38 – Stroll is approaching two tenths of a second from Perez with the same tire.
03.36 – Perez flies to 1’20″267 with medium rubber, Verstappen pays a second.
03.35 – Sainz is second with the hard tyre, Verstappen started the job with the soft tyre.
03.34 – 1’23″019 for Stroll who takes the lead with medium tyres.
03.33 – Only Albon and Verstappen are left in the pits.
03.32 – Lots of traffic on the track from the very first minutes, home idol Oscar Piastri can also be seen on the track.
03.31 – The Ferrari of Carlos Sainz immediately on the track.
03.30 – Green light at the bottom of the pit lane, the first free practice session of the Australian Grand Prix begins.
03.25 – 18°C the air temperature, 30°C that of the asphalt.
03.20 – On Thursday alone, 60,000 visitors were registered at the racetrack. According to forecasts, there will be 450,000 spectators overalla figure that would beat the record set by Austin in 2022 when 420,000 people attended the weekend.
03.15 – We begin our report by recalling that in the light of the penalties inflicted on Ocon and Alonso in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia the pitches were enlarged by 20 centimeters providing them with a signage line in the middle to help the driver position the car. At the end of free practice, the pilots will try to settle on the grid using this new aid.
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