Author of the best time on Friday, can Charles Leclerc believe it in Melbourne?

0''381! The gap which over one lap separates the Ferrari de Charles Leclerc for the Red Bull de Max Verstappen is most substantial. But isn't it just too much to give a clear indication of the weekend's outlook? This is the question that everyone was asking on the Albert Park circuit at the end of FP1 and FP2.

On the side of the Scuderia, apart from the fact that the Monegasque leaves the other members of the top 10 by more than half a second, it is the reading of the long relays which makes you smile with Charles once again faster on an average of five laps in Medium in front of his teammate Sainz et Oscar piastri.

The Dutchman, for his part, is only in fourth place. To his credit, the world champion missed a large part of FP2, his car needing to be repaired and its floor replaced after it heavily overlapped a curb at the exit of turn 10.

Now, the real question, the one that bothers Frédéric Vasseur and his men, is the real impact that this setback may have had on Max Verstappen's preparation program. Will it be quickly forgotten on Saturday or difficult to catch up with?

Max Verstappen not worried

Fast with the Medium compound, the Red Bull star had little time on track to test the Soft; which easily explains the gap of almost 4/10th with the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.

The same goes for the long stints which cannot be considered representative since neither he nor his teammate Pérez lingered on the track. Only eight laps between them were covered, while the Mexican had to work practically alone on the car's settings to compensate for the absence of his leader.

« I damaged the floor and the chassis, revealed Verstappen this Friday evening. Ferrari is fast but there are things we can refine. Nothing to worry about. » Nothing prohibitive indeed, provided however that the delay caused does not allow Ferrari to place on pole. And there, everything would become possible for the race...

For the Dutchman who complained after FP2 of strong understeer on both medium and soft tyres, FP3 will have crucial importance tomorrow. If nothing hinders the good execution of the session, there is a good chance that we will see a repeat of the first two qualifying sessions of the season which he largely dominated.

“Always the right leg, always.” / © DPPI

Who other than Charles Leclerc?

On the other hand, if for one reason or another, a new grain of sand were to hamper the beautiful RB20 mechanics, could this offer the opportunity to another team to take pole position. And who other than Ferrari could benefit from it?

The SF-24 is the only single-seater which somewhat stood out from the rest during the first two rounds, at least which suffered the least from the comparison with the RB20. Certainly, on the boulevards of Melbourne, both McLaren were practically as fast as Leclerc on the long stints but on a lap, the MCL38 is much less impressive than the Maranello machine, and also than theAston Martin or Mercedes.

At least that of George Russell, because on the side of Lewis Hamilton the day was the longest. “In FP2 we radically changed the settings of Lewis' car and it backfired on him, lamented the boss Toto wolff. It's not a good day! » Saturday will be another one for Brackley's men. As for Verstappen?

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