Formula 1@lemmy.worldbyf1bot@lemmy.worldbot account
2 months

2026 Australian Grand Prix - [QUALIFYING] discussion thread

English

ROUND 1: 🇦🇺 Australia

FORMULA 1 QATAR AIRWAYS AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 2026

Weekend Schedule

Click here to view the schedule in your local timezone

  • Practice 1: Friday, 02:30 CET | 01:30 UTC
  • Practice 2: Friday, 06:00 CET | 05:00 UTC
  • Practice 3: Saturday, 02:30 CET | 01:30 UTC
  • Qualifying: Saturday, 06:00 CET | 05:00 UTC
  • Race: Sunday, 05:00 CET | 04:00 UTC

Circuit stats & Tyres

  • First Grand Prix: 1996
  • Number of laps: 58
  • Circuit Length: 5.278 km
  • Race Distance: 306.124 km
  • Lap record: 1:19.813 Charles Leclerc (2024)
  • 2025 Pole: Lando Norris (1:15.096)
  • 2025 Fastest Lap: Lando Norris (1:22.167)
  • 2025 winner: Lando Norris
  • Pirelli Tyres: C3 (Hard) ⚪, C4 (Medium) 🟡, C5 (Soft) 🔴
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    • Goodeye8@piefed.socialEnglish
      2 months

      The Red bull second seat curse strikes again. Verstappen out 20th, Hadjar in 3rd.

      • ninth_plane@lemmy.world
        2 months

        At some point you have to wonder if the car is just undrivable by anyone but Hadjar.

    • LCP@lemmy.world
      2 months

      Watching that debris shatter by Norris’ car was quite mesmerizing. Broke beautifully into hundreds of pieces.

    • LCP@lemmy.world
      2 months

      Those Cadillacs are nowhere.

      Unfortunate that Williams weren’t able to fix the issues on Sainz’s car.

      • Munkisquisher@lemmy.nz
        2 months

        Caddy will learn what it takes to turn the car up in quali. Their main goal isn’t to blow the car up in quali. They want to finish the race and get some useful data.

    • LCP@lemmy.world
      2 months

      Fair dinkum lap indeed. Antonelli got that divine intervention with Verstappen’s crash. Toto with a huge smile on his face.

      Was hoping to see Hamilton higher up the order.

      Lindblad and Hadjar with an impressive quali session.

      • FrostyTrichs@crazypeople.onlineEnglish
        2 months

        Was hoping to see Hamilton higher up the order.

        If those practice starts on the grid were any indication it might not take him long to make up some positions.

    • wes@lemmy.world
      2 months

      The difference between Merc and the rest is staggering.

      • Munkisquisher@lemmy.nz
        2 months

        There will be a storm of development this year, they need to make the most of it early, as it’ll be a different pecking order later on

    • CaptDust@sh.itjust.works
      2 months

      I’m liking the way these cars are not glued to the track. Looks tough as hell to find the edge, shaking up for a good season I think

      • wes@lemmy.world
        2 months

        I don’t really like that there is regeneration going on in fast corners instead of going pretty flat out.

        • BowtiesAreCool@lemmy.world
          2 months

          Yeah seeing and hearing “super clipping” where the car goes so down on power they are downshifting towards the end of the straight well before the braking zone

        • CaptDust@sh.itjust.works
          2 months

          Yeah, they gotta get these batteries like 30% bigger I think that would help with the straight line suffering. And a V8.

        • LCP@lemmy.world
          2 months

          Can’t remember the last time I saw Verstappen crash like that. So bizarre.

          • Tagger@lemmy.world
            2 months

            I mean, I’m not a Max fan at all, but that definitely didn’t look like driver error.

            • HSR🏴‍☠️@lemmy.dbzer0.com
              2 months

              With how much negative torque is coming from MGU this year I expect teams will need a few more rounds to figure out car balance under braking.

              • Nighed@feddit.ukEnglish
                2 months

                There was a discussion about NOT getting the battery to 100% too, as you then unexpectedly loose breaking as the battery can’t charge.

                • schnokobaer@feddit.org
                  2 months

                  Or maybe you don’t lose braking but instead it falls back to the hydraulic disc calipers and those aren’t perfectly equal in braking force to the generator brake. Possibly in Max’ case they were a tad stronger, enough to spin him around instantly

              • eta@feddit.orgEnglish
                2 months

                Looks like the rest of the cars have it relatively figured out though. At the beginning if testing you saw a lot more cars struggling to brake than now. Maybe it was a very unfortunate error in Max car system.

            • LCP@lemmy.world
              2 months

              Oh yeah didn’t mean to imply driver error. Just stunned seeing his car go off like that.

    • Nighed@feddit.ukEnglish
      2 months

      Damn, I switched out antonelli, probably could have kept him in.

      My fantasy team is a bit of a mess. They did a much better job of the starting prices this year.

      • CaptDust@sh.itjust.works
        2 months

        The starting prices are sideways IMO with alpine, williams and aston lagging. The sharp end of the midfield are some the cheapest drivers right now

    • Nighed@feddit.ukEnglish
      2 months

      Are hulks steering wheel lights showing battery charge as well as revs?