Ahead of the weekend’s sole practice session, the air temperature is 22 degrees, while the track temperature is 33 degrees. It is bright and sunny.
Upgrades are a little thin on the ground this week, certainly compared to Melbourne. McLaren has a new rear wing. The Brake Duct Winglet will improve local flow physics in interaction with the floor and tyre, resulting in an overall gain in aerodynamic performance.
RB has a new Front Wing which is circuit specific, for circuits with higher aero balance requirements. Adding gurneys to the front wing increases the front wing load generated at a given flap angle. Also a new two-element beam wing with greater camber & incidence. Raising the trailing edge of the beam wing and using a two-element configuration increases the overall load generated by the rear wing assembly but with some additional drag, making it suitable at some higher-downforce circuits.
Williams new Rear Beam is available this weekend. It is a larger span version of the wing raced in Melbourne. There is also an optional forward lower wing that can accompany this main beam wing. The new beam wing options, which have a larger area than the previous version simply generate more load and drag from rear wing assembly. This gives an efficient increase in load at medium-high downforce circuits.
Finally, Stake has a new Coke/Engine Cover which features Flow Conditioning Changes to the engine cover design. This test item has a potentially positive effect to the flow field around the bodywork surfaces, improving both overall downforce of the car and the aero efficiency.
Mercedes, Red Bull and Aston Martin all broke the curfew overnight, but due to the fact that their cars were late in arriving at the track due to freight issues this will not count towards the four exemptions they are allowed this season.
The lights go green, Bearman is first out, followed by Ocon, Tsunoda, Sainz, Hadjar and Gasly.
As more drivers head out, all are on mediums.
Stroll is the last to emerge, his Aston Martin – like his teammate’s – sporting a shamrock in honour of Eddie Jordan.
“The grip is quite grippy compared to last year,” says Tsunoda, the track having been completely resurfaced.
Of the first wave, Russell goes quickest (35.184), while Albon, who has been off, reports something loose around his pedals.
Soon all 20 drivers have times on the board, but then this is a Sprint weekend so it was certain to be busy this morning.
A 34.504 sees Sainz go top but Gasly responds with a 34.317.
Having raced here is Asian F3, Doohan is the only rookie with experience of this track.
Piastri goes top with a 33.336, while his teammate makes it a McLaren 1-2 with a 33.362.
Hamilton loses the back end of his Ferrari ar the hairpin.
A 33.017 sees Russell retake the top spot.
Leclerc goes quickest (32.877) and Hamilton third (33.171), as Antonelli goes fourth, ahead of Verstappen and the McLarens.
Russell goes quickest again (32.377), as the Williams pair go eighth (Sainz) and ninth, ahead of Alonso. Russell’s time is a second quicker than the 33.660 the won pole for Verstappen last year.
With 37 minutes remaining, Tsunoda and Bortoleto have the track to themselves.
Antonelli, Verstappen and Sainz head out, still on their mediums.
“As soon as we started running, it was a shock to us how poor we were,” says Ayao Komatsu, reflecting on last Friday in Melbourne. “It didn’t show in testing in Bahrain, but it showed in the high-speed cornering in Melbourne. Here is better than Melbourne, but we need to find more performance than this.
“Melbourne was very uncharacteristic of Ollie, so he just needs to go back to what he was doing before. Some parts of his PU will be recoverable, but not all.”
“All the switches are wrong,” says Gasly of his steering wheel.
Norris runs wide in Turn 1 as he seeks to improve on seventh.
Following a snap, Alonso is told that it was probably the tailwind. “Yeh, for everybody, not just us,” he replies.
Given an update, Hamilton replies: “I just got two different messages just now.”
Not sure what Lawson’s programme is but he is currently 19th, just ahead of Bortoleto. Though he is probably running high fuel, the fact is that he needs to be allowed to do his own thing.
Leclerc goes second (32.701) and Piastri third.
The Monegasque subsequently spins at Turn 2 after losing the rear.
Concerned about his front-left, which is blistering, Antonelli is told that other drivers are struggling.
Hamilton overshoots the pit entrance, much like he did in 2007.
“I have an issue, no power steering, car has switched off,” reports Doohan as he stops between Turns 10 and 11.
The session is red-flagged.
With limited practice time, this is bad news for everyone, especially as nobody has tried the softs yet.
Not forgetting, of course, that when the session resumes, it will be very, very busy.
The session resumes with 8 minutes remaining, and, as expected, everyone is on the red-banded rubber.
Sainz leads the way, followed by Albon, Lawson, Russell and Bortoleto.
Russell fails to improve following a poor final sector, while Albon goes second with a 32.687.
Leclerc goes top with a 32.103 and Hamilton second (32.195).
Norris splits the Ferraris while Piastri goes fifth.
Alonso goes seventh and Bearman eighth, though the Briton is subsequently leapfrogged by Antonelli.
Gasly goes tenth, while Verstappen aborts his lap after failing to improve on 13th.
Tsunoda goes ninth and Stroll eleventh.
The Williams pair are sixth (Albon) and thirteenth,
“Yeh, I know,” snaps Norris when told that he’s losing out at Turn 8. However, at his next attempt to goes quickest with a 31.504. Leclerc improves but remains second, while Piastri goes third.
Hulkenberg goes sixth.
The session ends.
Norris is quickest, ahead of Leclerc, Piastri, Hamilton, Russell, Hulkenberg, Albon, Alonso, Antonelli and Tsunoda.
Bearman is eleventh, ahead of Stroll, Ocon, Gasly, Sainz, Verstappen, Hadjar, Lawson, Bortoleto and Doohan.
