Pirelli F1 Australian Grand Prix Qualifying review 19.03.2016: F1 Australian Grand-Prix at Albert Park Circuit Saturday, March 19th 2016

F1 Australian Grand-Prix at Albert Park Circuit
Saturday, March 19th  2016




- New era of qualifying in Melbourne: pole time 2.5 seconds faster than 2015

- Race strategy difficult to predict following limited slick running due to changeable weather


 A new era of qualifying began today in Melbourne, with drivers being eliminated one-by-one. The new format gave everybody plenty to get used to, as drivers and teams worked out the best compromise between setting a quick time and managing the tyre allocation in order to maximise opportunities for the race.


 Lewis Hamilton’s pole position time for Mercedes (the 50th of his career) was close to 2.5 seconds quicker than his pole last year and three-tenths off the pole record: a clear indication of the performance increase from the latest-generation cars.


Paul Hembery, Pirelli motorsport director: “More so than ever, today was all about learning and thinking on your feet. The teams headed into a brand new qualifying format with relatively little tyre data, as a result of the rain that limited running yesterday.


More detailed work was done in the dry conditions of FP3 today, with some drivers only trying the supersoft compound for the first time. When it came to qualifying, the aim of the game hasn’t fundamentally changed: it’s still to get through the session using as few sets of tyres as possible.


 However, we already saw a number of different ways of achieving that goal, which will make for some interesting strategies tomorrow: especially for those outside the top eight, who will have a free choice of starting tyres.”




How the tyres behaved today:


Medium Not used that much so far this weekend. It is one of the two mandatory sets in the race together with the soft.


Soft The favoured race tyre: will generally be chosen for the longest stints tomorrow. Around 1.2s faster per lap than the medium*


Supersoft The only tyre used in qualifying, around 0.7s faster per lap than the soft*


*Data to be confirmed after full analysis                  


Race strategy: The rain and limited running yesterday, as well as a brand new set of tyre regulations, mean that race strategy is hard to predict. More information will follow after full data analysis.



F 3 – TOP 3 TIMES

1.HAM – Mercedes      1m25.624s      Super Soft – New
2.ROS – Mercedes      1m25.800s      Super Soft – New
3.VET – Ferrari      1m25.852s      Super Soft – New



QUALIFYING TOP 8

1      Hamilton      01m23.837s      Supersoft new
2      Rosberg      01m24.197s      Supersoft new
3      Vettel      01m24.675s      Supersoft new
4      Raikkonen      01m25.033s      Supersoft new
5      Verstappen      01m25.434s      Supersoft new
6      Massa      01m25.458s      Supersoft new
7     Sainz      01m25.582s      Supersoft new
8     Ricciardo      01m25.589s      Supersoft new



LONGEST STINTS SO FAR

SOFT      Verstappen      17 laps
SOFT      Sainz J      17
SUPERSOFT      Ericsson      15
SUPERSOFT      Nasr      15
SUPERSOFT      Massa      15
SUPERSOFT      Bottas      15
INTERMEDIATE      Wehrlein      13
MEDIUM**      Haryanto      5


 **Nearly unused so far


BEST TIME BY COMPOUND SO FAR

MEDIUM      Ricciardo      1m32.394s
INTERMEDIATE      Hamilton      1m38.841s
SOFT      Rosberg      1m26.149s
SUPERSOFT      Hamilton      1m23.837s
      
         
   
Anthony Peacock  - photo Pirelli