The season-opening Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park provided an opportunity to analyse how each team has progressed compared to 12 months ago.
To do so, the quickest one-lap time was taken from each team during qualifying in 2018 and compared to the respective session from 2017, held in similar weather conditions at an unchanged circuit layout.
There are obvious caveats: Pirelli’s Ultrasoft tyres are a step softer than last season, some teams have changed drivers – for better, or for worse – and the high-pressure nature of the one-lap deciders means times have been taken from various segments of the three-part qualifying session.
To assist the comparison, and remove potential outliers, some ‘ideal’ lap times have been pieced together from sector times of different laps in the same session, where possible, typically due to driver errors.
Additionally, the law of diminishing returns is such that the closer you are to the front, the least there is to gain – which naturally has an impact.
Each team's best lap in 2018 compared to 2017:
Mercedes: 1.024s/lap gain
Ferrari 0.628s/lap gain (0.626s/lap ‘ideal’ gain)
Red Bull 1.606s/lap gain (1.710s/lap ‘ideal’ gain)
Force India 1.059s/lap gain (1.003s/lap ‘ideal’ gain)
Williams 0.213s/lap gain, (0.206s/lap ‘ideal’ gain)
Renault 1.914s/lap gain, (1.689s/lap ‘ideal’ gain)
Toro Rosso 0.045s/lap loss (0.085s/lap ‘ideal’ loss)
Haas 0.887s/lap gain, (0.894s/lap ‘ideal’ gain)
McLaren 1.828s/lap gain (2.083s/lap ‘ideal’ gain)
Sauber 1.680s/lap gain, (1.487s/lap ‘ideal’ gain)
Here's that same data in graph form to better visualise the performance gain/loss of each team:
Mercedes: 1.024s/lap gain
Mercedes’ year-on-year comparison is the simplest to formulate: the quickest time came from the same driver, and led to the same result – a Lewis Hamilton pole position. Hamilton’s sensational final Q3 push lap, which delivered a stunning pole, meant Mercedes’ W09 was 1.024s faster around Albert Park than its W08. That Hamilton was able to find so much time on his second Q3 lap underlined the current driver/car harmony, and must surely be a worry for rivals if such a gain can be carried forward.
Ferrari: 0.628s/lap gain (0.626s/lap ‘ideal’ gain)
The data tallies with Sebastian Vettel’s belief that Ferrari is not as strong as it was in 2017. Kimi Raikkonen’s 2018 front-row-earning time was 0.628s quicker than Vettel’s 2017 effort, which itself would have been 0.002s faster on an ideal lap, fractionally reducing the overall gain. However, the caveat is that Vettel felt his final 2018 Q3 push lap was far from perfect. Nonetheless, Ferrari has work to do to extract the potential it is sure is inherent in the SF71-H.
Red Bull: 1.606s/lap gain (1.710s/lap ‘ideal’ gain)
Red Bull began 2017 in dispiriting fashion, and therefore its 1.606s/lap gain – taking Max Verstappen’s respective Q3 laps on each occasion – is as encouraging as it is unsurprising. An ideal lap for Verstappen in 2018 would have upped Red Bull’s year-on-year improvement to 1.710s, with the Dutchman having squandered a potential front-row getaway with an error at Turn 13.
Force India: 1.059s/lap gain (1.003s/lap ‘ideal’ gain)
Force India left Melbourne point-less but its 12-month gain was positive, despite having yet to fully grasp its VJM11. Force India’s performance was made to look worse by the larger gains achieved by Renault and McLaren, as well as Haas once again being strong in Melbourne, as per 2016/17. Equally, its own one-lap showing at the track last year was so-so, compared to later performances, meaning it will need to match the gains it made through 2017 at upcoming venues and hope it can unlock from the VJM11 the type of pace it unearthed in the VJM10.
Williams: 0.213s/lap gain (0.206s/lap ‘ideal’ gain)
Williams’ Australian Grand Prix was a troubled one, coming off the back of a lacklustre pre-season, accentuating already difficult comparisons. Last year’s best time was set by Felipe Massa in Q3, this year’s by Lance Stroll in Q2, and the Canadian wasted his final lap with an off. Williams has two youngsters driving a yet-to-be-understood car; it is difficult to know exactly where to attribute cause of the team’s relatively minimal gain. But in almost standing still, Williams has slipped down the pecking order.
Renault: 1.914s/lap gain (1.689s/lap ‘ideal’ gain)

On pure pace, Renault has made the most year-on-year progress, providing encouragement for all at Enstone and Viry. Carlos Sainz Jr.’s 2018 best was 1.914s quicker than Nico Hulkenberg’s 2017 benchmark – the Spaniard’s Q2 time proving faster than his Q3 effort, suggesting there is more pace in the R.S.18, the team believing its Q3 prospects were hampered by the early flag.
Toro Rosso: 0.045s/lap loss (0.085s/lap ‘ideal’ loss)
Toro Rosso was the only team to lose out over 12 months, albeit with mitigating circumstances. The switch to Honda is regarded as the obvious target, but last year Toro Rosso reached Q3 via Sainz Jr. and Daniil Kvyat – who both held experience of Albert Park – while this season they had circuit newcomers Pierre Gasly and Brendon Hartley, who both failed to put in a stellar hot lap in Q1. Had they done so it would have given Toro Rosso a year-on-year gain, although still lower than the majority of teams.
Haas: 0.887s/lap gain (0.894s/lap ‘ideal’ gain)
Haas’ Melbourne display (prior to the pit phase) was impressive, but its year-on-year gains were not as much as some other teams, owing to its eye-catching one-lap pace at the track in 2017, when Romain Grosjean qualified sixth, a position this year matched by Kevin Magnussen. Consequently, if its 0.887s/lap gain is repeated at other tracks it will frequently find itself amid the midfield scrap, rather than grabbing row three on the grid. But if its target of consistency is to be met, then that 0.887s figure will grow substantially when it visits circuits where it has previously been poor.
McLaren: 1.828s/lap gain (2.083s/lap ‘ideal’ gain)
McLaren’s year-on-year improvement was behind only Renault, but on an ideal lap its gain exceeded two seconds, with Fernando Alonso having erred on his final Q2 effort in 2018. The switch from Honda to Renault power, even accounting for its late installation, has had an obvious performance boost (literally and metaphorically), and has contributed to a bright start for a team that expects to rapidly improve once its impending updates are understood.
Sauber: 1.680s/lap gain (1.487s/lap ‘ideal’ gain)
Sauber was the slowest team over one-lap in 2017 – giving it the greatest scope for improvement – and it was the slowest again in 2018, and on both occasions Marcus Ericsson's Q1 effort was the benchmark. Sauber's 1.680s/lap gain is the third-best, meaning it at least has a platform on which to build, a reassuring situation in light of its worrying chasm to the midfield on Friday. That figure, though, will need to grow through the year if it is to regularly latch onto the rear of the pack, particularly given its mid-2017 slump.