With Mercedes locking in the front Grid, Is Williams or Ferrari the best of rest

[TheIcefan]

Qualifying in Australia showed that Mercedes is going nowhere, locking in the front Grid. Is it going to be another Hamilton vs Rosberg season? Massa grabbing the 3rd position for Williams with the two Ferrari hot on his heels. Is Williams or Ferrari gonna set the predictions of who's gonna be the best of the rest? It seems that they are evenly matched with little margin between them. Personally I think that Ferrari has the better pace, with Massa having the better luck, but only time will tell. I think if it is going to be another Hamilton vs Rosberg season, the battle of the best of the rest is the one that's going to make the season interesting. But yet again, this is only the first qualifying, really excited for the race tomorrow.

[Andy B]

What a good quali Lewis blew Rosberg away but that does not mean it'll be the same in the race. Here in NZ we now have the Sky coverage rather than the BBC and it is so much better as with the BBC we did not even get discussion between P1, P2 and P3 and Sky is giving us the full package.
So much going on its going to be a great season!

[cosworth151]

It's close, and I expect it to change back & forth during the season. Right now, based on quali, I'd give Williams the edge. Bottas only really had one hot lap in Q3 and he blew a corner on that lap. Barring that, Q3 would have ended with Williams in third & fourth.

[Irisado]

Massa should be able to beat both Ferraris, given a trouble free run.  The Mercedes engine has better fuel economy than the Ferrari, which should give Felipe the edge.  I would have said Bottas has a good chance of finishing on the podium, but given his back problem he may not even get to start.

[John S]

Hi Icefan, welcome to GPWizard I'm sure you'll feel right at home.

Also good to see a new member actively starting a new thread. 

Your question is a tough one but I think the Ferrari's just might surprise us all. Massa has a good grid slot but sometimes he gets it wrong at the off, if he does can't see him easily getting back in front of the Red devils. 

Also Bottas will not be confident on the grid given the way he was walking after Quali I'm not so sure he will have an easy race. He apparently aggravated a back problem riding one of the many bumps on the Albert Park track.

Ferrari have also looked good in longer runs in testing, although of course they did very little full race simulation runs in Spain - so it could still go either way. 

[Ian]

Hiya Icefan, you've found a great site, as Wiz said, good to see a new member posting straight onto the forum, welcome.

[Andy B]

No Bottas!
He has a torn disc so who knows how long it'll take maybe we'll see Mrs Wolff getting a drive? 

[Scott]

Oh man, torn disc?  He could miss half the season.

Welcome Icefan...glad you found us.   

Looks like another Merc year.  If Bottas is out for a while, I don't know if Massa can keep Williams in the fight, but I'm not sure Melbourne really showed the pecking order.  It will be interesting to see who Williams put in the car if Bottas is out for a while.

[J.Clark]

Welcome Icefan.

I think Ferrari, having made a HUGE leap forward from last season, is on par with Williams.  You mentioned luck, and I don't know who has more, but it will likely be a back-and-forth for these two most of the season.  I think Williams may be a bit quicker for a single lap, but over the race distance Ferrari may have a slight advantage.

The bottom line for me regarding the two - pit stops will make the difference in many of the races.  I see them so evenly matched that neither is capable of making passes on track.

[cosworth151]

A belated welcome, Icefan. Glad to have you here!

Williams seems to be distancing themselves from Susie Wolff as fast as they can. No word yet about Alex Lynn:

http://autoweek.com/article/formula-one/susie-wolff-not-line-replace-bottas-williams-formula-one

I was very impressed with Ferrari's performance at Melbourne. Seb tied the Scuderia's entire 2014 podium output in the first race. Kimi would have finished well if not for his wheel problems.

Williams & Ferrari look to be pretty well matched. Should make for some memorable racing! 

[J.Clark]

I look forward to the racing between Ferrari and Williams.  From what we saw yesterday, it will likely come down to track position and pit stops.  I don't think either has an advantage in race trim, and while wheel-to-wheel racing is awesome to watch neither had what it took to make a pass (even with the DRS).