Data showing HOW Mercedes managed to close gap in Australia qualifying

With gloomy and unpredictable weather lurking around Melbourne there was always the chance that the 2023 Australian GP qualifying session would throw up some surprises and it did exactly that!

Saturday at Albert Park saw the most exciting qualifying session of the new season so far with Mercedes surprising everyone by taking P2 and P3 – partly aided by Sergio Perez's crash.

Part of the reason for the excitement in qualifying was the challenge conditions provided for the drivers – who struggled to put heat into the tyres due to low ambient temperatures – and the traffic on track which made times unpredictable.

One element that remained consistent with the season so far though was the sheer dominance of Max Verstappen. The Dutchman left no turn ‘unturned’ and put the RB19 on pole with a scorching 1:16.732 compared to a surprisingly fast time set by Russell, who was 0.236 seconds back.

The tussle for third was a close fight between Hamilton and Alonso with just 0.035 second separating them.

Here we break down all of the qualifying lap analysis to see where the drivers found and lost time, including how Mercedes managed to close the gap...

Australian Grand Prix qualifying technical analysis

Verstappen vs Russell

1) The straight-line pace for Red Bull compared to Mercedes is not too great so both drivers start the lap pretty evenly-matched.

2) Verstappen is strong through turn one and can pick up the throttle quickly while Russell required a small correction which made him lose time until turn three.

3) Russell has a strong second sector and gains back time until turn 11 where he has to brake earlier and cannot carry as much speed as Verstappen. Turn 11 is a RedBull dominant corner.

4) Going into turn 13, Russell brakes later and carries a lot more speed in which he can use as momentum into turn 14 – this is brave driving, right on the limit. However, it means he has to make a small correction on the throttle, and Russell was able to make up all the time in the last two corners.

Verstappen vs Alonso

1) Verstappen starts with a straight-line pace advantage and gains time into the second phase of traction before every braking zone such as turns one, three and 11 – all thanks to the efficiency of the Red Bull.

2) Looking at turn three, you can see that Verstappen can carry higher speed into the corners even though he brakes a bit earlier.

3) Turn 11 is the big differentiator, as can be seen in the data. Alonso has to brake much earlier and carries much less speed into turn 11 compared to Verstappen, whereas the Dutchman can still get back on the throttle at about the same time as Alonso. Then, Verstappen also reaches even higher speeds nearing turn 12 and carries more minimum speed into the corner, such is the aero efficiency advantage of the Red Bull.

Top speed analysis for all drivers

Three key extrapolations from looking at the speeds of all the cars in qualifying:

1) The difference between Verstappen and Alonso was 7km/h, which is the main thing hurting Aston Martin in overall lap time.

2) Mercedes has closed up the gap to Red Bull in terms of top speed differential compared to other races.

3) Williams's top speed set-up is what gave them the edge over the rest of the midfield. Alex Albon took advantage of this and qualified P8.

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