Ferrari chief “keen to find out what the hierarchy will be” at Australian Grand Prix

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur is looking forward to understanding the “hierarchy” of the grid as Formula 1 enters the season opener in Australia.

After a few days of pre-season testing under unusually cold conditions, there’s very little usable data to confirm where exactly the ten teams place on the grid. The Australian Grand Prix will give us, and the teams, our first understanding of where these teams land. It must be noted that this track won’t be as representative of the rest of the season compared to a track like Bahrain, but by the end of qualifying, every car will have dropped the sandbags.

In Ferrari’s Australian Grand Prix preview, Vasseur is eager to shake off the cobwebs.

“The wait is finally over and we’re ready to take to the track for the first race of the season,” he says. “One could say we’re stepping back in time, as it’s been a few years since Australia hosted the opening round. The Albert Park street circuit is not particularly representative of what the rest of the year has in store, but we did well there last year.

“Naturally, there are plenty of unknowns and we are keen to find out what the hierarchy will be, especially as the results of the Bahrain test were very difficult to read. Everyone, including the drivers has worked hard all winter in the factory in Maranello.  Charles has also pushed harder than ever in the gym, and Lewis has made a great effort to assimilate with the team as quickly as possible.

“I believe we have everything in place to do well. As always, we will concentrate on ourselves this week, aware that this is just the start of a very long season.

“A week ago, we were given a wonderful welcome by a huge crowd of our tifosi in Milan and now, in Melbourne, we will be aiming to give all our fans further reason to be proud of us.”

This weekend will see Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton race together competitively for the first time since the former Mercedes driver joined the team. While their boss will be keen to understand the grid, fans of the team will be eager to understand where these two drivers place against each other. 

The Australian Grand Prix takes place on 16 March at 04:00 GMT.