Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso ended the first session of Formula One racing’s new turbocharged hybrid 1.6-litre V6 engine era on top, as the 2014 season got underway in Australia on Friday.
This race is the first in Formula One racing’s new turbocharged hybrid 1.6-litre V6 engine era, and the sense of excitement at Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit is palpable. Having shown great pace in pre-season testing, Mercedes and Williams enter the race in Melbourne as favourites, but the truth is that nobody knows for sure what to expect.
As was the case last season, Formula One racing’s tyre suppliers Pirelli will provide two compounds of dry tyre for each race, and for Australia they’ve chosen the white-marked medium and yellow-marked soft compounds. One of the seven sets of medium tyres available to each driver can only be used in the first 30 minutes of this session and must be handed back to Pirelli after the session.
