Excellent session for Ferrari, which emerges as a contender for victory alongside McLaren, but watch out for the weather.
First weekend of the 2025 Formula 1 season, which promises to be highly competitive right from the first sessions. In the Italian morning, the fastest was Charles Leclerc, with a tenth of a second advantage over the McLaren, with Piastri ahead of Norris. Surprise from Racing Bulls, with Tsunoda in fourth and Hadjar in sixth, separated by Hamilton’s Ferrari. Verstappen struggled, finishing only seventh.
For this first round of the season at the Melbourne circuit, Pirelli has opted for the same compounds as in 2024, namely the C3, C4, and C5 tires, respectively Hard, Medium, and Soft.
Moreover, in the previous edition, all drivers made two pit stops, so pit strategy will once again be a key factor in this race.
Additionally, in 2024, the winner, Carlos Sainz, chose to start with the medium tires, then completed two stints on hard tires. This strategy appears to be the fastest for the 2025 edition as well, since tire degradation is a crucial factor on this track.
Finally, the weather must be taken into account: while Saturday is expected to be sunny, there is a high likelihood of heavy rain showers two hours before the race on Sunday, along with strong gusts of wind. Therefore, we could have a wet start for the first race of the year.
Race pace analysis FP2 Australia: here are the times from this morning!
In the last 20 minutes of the session, all drivers completed a race simulation, except for Ollie Bearman, who did not participate in FP2 due to a violent crash at turn 10 in FP1. Although we don’t know the fuel loads and specific programs of the different teams, the battle seems to be between Charles Leclerc and the two McLarens.
Let’s start with the Monegasque Ferrari driver, who began his race simulation with an outlap over a second slower than the two McLaren. However, this allowed him to manage his tires better, consistently improving and setting a best time of 1:21.207.
Leclerc’s fastest lap, however, was 1:20.825, set on the penultimate lap, although this reference should be taken with caution, as it came after a cooldown lap. A bit slower than Charles Leclerc was Lewis Hamilton, who couldn’t dip below 1:22, except for the last two laps, which still indicates very good tire management.
The race simulation for both McLaren was also positive, with Norris faster than his teammate Piastri. The British driver consistently ran in the 1:21s, except for the first few laps in 1:22, to ensure proper tire warm-up. Oscar Piastri, on the other hand, was very consistent, though slightly slower than his teammate. In his 9-lap race simulation, excluding the outlap, the Australian’s times were all between 1:21.8 and 1:22.2.
The race simulation for both Mercedes was also good, with both cars opting for the hard tires, which will definitely be the race tire, unlike the rival teams, all of which used medium tires.
Russell’s race simulation was very interesting, as he immediately started with fast times, ranging from low 1:22s to high 1:21s, before slowing down due to a spin during his eighth lap. Despite this minor setback, the British driver completed his long run without issues.
Excellent race simulation also for Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who will make his official Formula 1 debut this Sunday: his times were impressive and very close to those of his teammate, with no noticeable rise in times due to tire degradation.
It was a tough Friday for Red Bull: Max Verstappen’s race simulation started later than the other drivers due to several modifications to the car requested by the reigning world champion. Despite this, Max completed 7 laps, running in the low 1:22s, before finishing with a time of 1:21.506.
As for the midfield, Pierre Gasly’s race simulation with the Alpine is definitely worth noting, as he was the only one to opt for the soft tires. However, unless there is a Safety Car in the final laps, these tires are unlikely to be used in the race, as they suffer from high degradation. From the data of the French driver, we can see that after the first laps in 1:22, the times increased, reaching 1:24 before the pit stop.
PHOTO: F1, Scuderia Ferrari HP, Mclaren F1 Team, Charles Leclerc, GPKingdom.
