Red Bull on the right track in Melbourne

While Sebastian Vettel et Daniel Ricciardo arrived in Melbourne with the fear of seeing the weekend start like Caterham F1 Team, the RB10s were actually quite close to the best times achieved by the Mercedes while proving reliable during this first day of testing. The four-time world champion was even the most diligent in the second session with 41 laps covered compared to 38 for his teammate! This is a real achievement after the disappointing results obtained during winter testing.

Sebastian Vettel did not hide his satisfaction even if the German would now like to reduce his delay by seven tenths on the reference time of Lewis Hamilton. “It was very good, it’s a real relief. A lot of work has been done to achieve this. We had no problems today, the cars ran well and the balance was very good. Times don't count for much at the end of the day on Friday, but it's always better to be near the top of the timesheet. We know there is still more to be found in terms of performance, but the result is very good so far. »

The story is the same for Daniel Ricciardo, who moved at the same pace, setting the sixth fastest time of the day, less than a second behind the best Mercedes. “We certainly expected to be a little further behind.”, concedes the local pilot. “Luckily the delay isn’t that big. If the gaps remain the same, being within the same second is a better result than we envisioned. I'm not going to get too far ahead today, but it was a very good day for us. We learned a lot. I know the team has been doing its best since winter testing, but we didn't expect to complete so many laps. We are really very happy. This will motivate the whole team and prove that we can overcome all the difficulties that face us. »

The final free practice session for the Australian Grand Prix will take place from 4 a.m. French time and can be followed live on AUTOhebdo.fr. Discover the photos of the tests on this link.