Can Red Bull end their winning streak in Melbourne?

Max Verstappen secured the team a third straight pole position in the 2023 season during qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, but it was far from the ‘easy’ weekend he had hoped for the team.

Red flags in both FP1 and FP2 disrupted their Friday practice run, causing him to struggle to ‘find a rhythm’ with the tyres.

Tire warm-up is difficult in Melbourne due to the relatively low ambient temperatures and the track surface is now a year old since it was renewed in 2022.

Red Bull suffered badly from tire degradation during last year’s race, with Charles Leclerc claiming a commanding 20-second win over Sergio Perez while Verstappen retired with engine problems.

This will be another factor for the team this year as temperatures soar to 18-20°C on Sunday.

Could the fourth DRS zone help the troubled Perez?

None of the Red Bull drivers ran the hard tire this weekend, with only George Russell and Lewis Hamilton using it from the front runners in FP2.

Both therefore have an extra set available compared to everyone else, which will likely be used by Perez if he’s the last one through the grid.

The Red Bull driver has the advantage of having four DRS zones this year, coupled with the RB19’s superior speed advantage on the straight.

Russell is less confident Perez will finish in the top 10 given the narrowness of the Albert Park circuit.

“I think it’s going to be a challenge here. Sure he’ll make it into the top 10. But I don’t think you can fight forward at a track like that,” he said.

Verstappen added: “This track is a bit tricky to pass but this extra DRS zone will help for sure. It also depends on the pace of the other cars in the race if they have a puncture or if you’re better degrees.”

According to Pirelli Motorsport boss Mario Isola, the hard is the best racing tire because of the wear that can be seen on the medium.

“Both the Soft and Medium showed a bit of grain on a track that is still not rubberized at low temperatures,” Isola said.

“The Hard proved to be very consistent and not that far removed from the other two compounds in terms of performance.

“A stopper remains the optimal strategy, with medium-hard being theoretically the fastest and soft-hard being a bit slower.”

Can Mercedes insist?

Russell believes that after a difficult start with the W14, the team should “go all in” to claim an early win.

They have the advantage of two cars flanking Verstappen at the front, Hamilton in third place, although a quick-starting Fernando Alonso could break that advantage in pit strategy.

Russell’s best times from FP2 show him in the low 1’21s and mid 1’20s, although it’s likely they ran slightly lighter fuel to simulate the end of the race.

Both Alonso and Charles Leclerc seem to prefer the soft tire and may run it at the start as it matches Verstappen’s high 1:22 and low 1:23 on the medium.

Alonso believes Mercedes are much closer to pace as they begin to better understand how their car responds to setup changes.

“Generally they were within a tenth of the pace with us on Sunday. That’s where they were yesterday except for P2, I think Lewis in FP2,” he told the media, including RacingNews365.com.

“It’s not as good as Red Bull, no one has a car close to Red Bull. But they’re getting better and they’ll be a contender for wins soon.”