Although top speeds ahead of the braking zones are not fully representative for the engine power evaluation due to unknown levels of downforce, and therefore air resistance each individual car has, let’s see who was fastest on the speed traps in qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.
The first three places at the end of the first two sectors are occupied by Mercedes engines in the Mercedes and Williams while at the start finish line (the end of the third sector) in second place was the Renault engine in the Renault R.S.17.
Gunther Steiner from Haas said that new Ferrari engine 062 is at least at Mercedes level so it is interesting to look where were Ferrari and Haas cars who use that engine (Sauber use 056/5 engine from 2016.).
The fastest car with a Ferrari engine in the first sector was Raikkonen in fourth place with 2.2 km/h behind Hamilton, Vettel was 0.4 km/h slower in fifth place, while Grosjean and Magnussen were ninth and tenth fastest. It should be noted that Grosjean was only 1.2 km/h slower than Vettel while he trailed Hamilton for 4.4 km/h.
In the end the second sector, before fast chicane (turns 11 and 12) Vettel was 4.2 km/h slower than Bottas in fifth place.
At the start finish line Vettel was fourth fastest with 2.2 km/h behind Massa, but 1.2 km/h ahead of Hamilton.
In all three measurement points McLaren and Sauber drivers were slowest. Honda’s power is approximately at the end of last season level and Sauber use Ferrari power unit from the end of last season and they won’t get any improvement.
MAXIMUM SPEEDS AT THE END OF EACH SECTOR – QUALIFYING
In the speed trap near the end of the straight fastest were again drivers with Mercedes engines, which took three of the top four places and five of the first seven. Other two drivers in top7 had Renault engines – Hulkenberg (Renault R.S.17) in third place and Palmer in the same car in fifth place.
McLaren and Sauber drivers were again at the bottom – Alonso was exactly 12 km/h slower than the fastest Stroll in Williams
SPEED TRAP, QUALIFYING
| Pos | Nr | Driver | Team | Engine | Speed [km/h] |
| 1 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Williams Mercedes | Mercedes M08 | 328.6 |
| 2 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Force India Mercedes | Mercedes M08 | 328.1 |
| 3 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Renault | Renault R.E.17 | 326.2 |
| 4 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | Mercedes M08 | 325.5 |
| 5 | 30 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | Renault R.E.17 | 325.4 |
| 6 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Force India Mercedes | Mercedes M08 | 324.4 |
| 7 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams Mercedes | Mercedes M08 | 324.3 |
| 8 | 7 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari | Ferrari 062 | 322.8 |
| 9 | 26 | Danil Kvyat | Toro Rosso Renault | Renault R.E.17 | 322.3 |
| 10 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | Ferrari 062 | 322.0 |
| 11 | 55 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | Renault R.E.17 | 322.0 |
| 12 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull TAG Heuer | Renault R.E.17 | 321.8 |
| 13 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas Ferrari | Ferrari 062 | 321.6 |
| 14 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | Mercedes M08 | 321.1 |
| 15 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | Ferrari 062 | 320.5 |
| 16 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull TAG Heuer | Renault R.E.17 | 318.0 |
| 17 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber Ferrari | Ferrari 056/5 | 317.4 |
| 18 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren Honda | Honda RA617H | 316.6 |
| 19 | 36 | Antonio Giovinazzi | Sauber Ferrari | Ferrari 056/5 | 315.9 |
| 20 | 2 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren Honda | Honda RA617H | 314.4 |
ALBERT PARK CIRCUIT
