copperdrifter26 said:I was telling everyone earlier that Sebastian Vettel could have easily taken half that gap. He drove an absolute beauty, but honestly, that little slip at T9 and being a bit sluggish on the entry into T1—where he had to fight just to make up ground later—cost him at least 0.150s. It looks like Sebastian is braking a bit later, while Lewis Hamilton is getting back on the throttle just a touch sooner. Plus, you've got the Mercedes PU still feeling a bit more powerful, though I wouldn't be surprised if Ferrari has a slight edge on the aero side.
Here’s my breakdown:
The analysis is kind of flawed right from the jump...
At the T1 entry, there's a massive difference, and it's not even about how much gas they're giving it—it's the gear selection...
It's obvious either Mercedes and Ferrari have totally different gear ratios, or Vettel just stayed in the wrong gear. 🤷
Watch closely: Vettel enters the corner in 5th and stays there, while Hamilton is in 4th... obviously, Hamo can hammer the throttle way harder since he's in a lower gear. 😉
Sure, there was a mistake at T9, but I seriously doubt those two little slips cost him enough to miss pole. I don't buy that he lost a full 0.268s just there.
That's not a tiny margin to blame on just two minor hiccups...
Maybe he could've closed the gap to about 0.100s, but I don't see him pulling ahead.
Then again, it wouldn't surprise me if he ends up ahead of Mercedes down the road. Australia wasn't exactly kind to them in qualifying, yet they were still this close. 👍
They had some ERS issues on Friday, which messed up their whole program, so who knows how much that actually trashed the car setup. Plus, it was pretty cold during Q3, which traditionally sucks for Ferrari but usually works fine for Mercedes...
So yeah, all things considered, there's definitely hope.👍