Carlos Sainz is starting to dominate Australia

Carlos Sainz began to lead the F1 Australian Grand Prix 2022captaining the double of Ferrari in the first free training session, beat his teammate by half a second Leclerc (2nd). There is still a lot to do, the track, reappearing and renovating, still needs to be improved a lot and one of its keys gp This is to understand and predict the changes the asphalt is experiencing throughout the weekend. But at this point, the Spaniard started ahead, a good way to make his intentions clear in the third round of the season.

The Spanish don’t want to settle for Ferrari number 2. Not even remotely. It never crossed his mind. He wants to win. Just think of winning. And most of all, you know you have a vehicle to do it. In Bahrain he was second despite saying he suffered badly throughout the weekend, being uncomfortable driving. In Saudi Arabia he improved his sensations and took a step forward that allowed him to fight for the pole, but Verstappen and Leclerc still couldn’t catch up with the pace of the race. But it’s clear to him about what he needs to improve and he can get into the fight. It is not known if the Madrid native will be able to take the decisive step in this third test, but so far Carlos has started to lead in the first session without mistakes where Ferrari made its main goal: to get the highest that speed.

The Italian team arrived Australia more than warning. Sa Jeddah, red bull is difficult to handle straight on the power of its engine, and the changes introduced in this revised track of Albert Park they do track speed, something Red Bull favors.

In a layout with up to 4 zones DRSthe tip will be key and that’s why Ferrari is focused on finding the limit by operating with less downforce to reduce its drag, but suffering more in some corners, something where Leclerc He suffered some complications such as a final track exit where he rescued his vehicle. Also Carlos, who perched on one of the walls. There are many warnings of how much danger the red box is if you decide to take your car.

Alonzo, ninth

Fernando Alonso started in ninth position, 1 “423 off the best time set by Carlos Sainz, finishing just over two tenths behind his teammate Esteban Ocon, who was 6th. Alpine started in both cars in the Top-10, the French team’s great goal on this track was to confirm that the course had really started in the middle of the battle for third place in the Constructors ’World Championship.

So far, the Alfa Romeo, included boots in the 10th position and zhou on the 15th, or Hasswith the Magnussen 18th and Schumacher in 20th position, did not show the potential assumed after their performance in the first races. On the other hand, McLaren was seen higher than previous appointments, with Norris in 5th position and Ricciardo in the eighth, just behind Hamilton’s Mercedes, which was in 7th position.

Finally, Mercedes did not introduce any evolution to reduce the massive bounce gained on the straight, which forced him to raise the height of his car too much in the early races, something that caused him more resistance to wind and, consequently, lose a lot of lead in the straight. Mercedes should continue to suffer on this track, although we’ll have to wait to find out the qualifying rhythm simulations and the average laps everyone can do in Free Practice 2 this morning to have a slightly clearer image of everything.

Problems for Vettel

The first session had two red flags, one for losing a piece to Red Bull RB18’s Perezand the other, more disturbing, because of the loss of power suffered Vettel on what could be the problem with your machine Mercedes.

Research

Administrators will have work from scratch after a session in which they announce an investigation into Carlos Sainz for intercepting Zhou at the beginning of the session. They should also do the same in an action where Verstappen annoyed Russell by being very slow, getting intense panic throughout the throttle.