The first race of the season begins in Melbourne Australia this weekend. Only now will we see just how good or otherwise the teams really are.
McLaren have had a dreadful official testing over the last couple of months, and the following statistics table may surprise some of you.
| Date | Driver | Team | Tyres | Time | Gap |
| 27-Feb | Rosberg | Mercedes | S | 01:22.8 | 125.776 mph |
| 28-Feb | Hamilton | Mercedes | S | 01:23.0 | 0.23 |
| 1-Mar | Bottas | Williams | SS | 01:23.1 | 0.271 |
| 28-Feb | Massa | Williams | SS | 01:23.3 | 0.47 |
| 28-Feb | Raikkonen | Ferrari | SS | 01:23.3 | 0.484 |
| 1-Mar | Vettel | Ferrari | SS | 01:23.5 | 0.677 |
| 1-Mar | Nasr | Sauber | SS | 01:24.0 | 1.231 |
| 22-Feb | Grosjean | Lotus | SS | 01:24.1 | 1.275 |
| 28-Feb | Sainz | Toro Rosso | SS | 01:24.2 | 1.399 |
| 26-Feb | Ericsson | Sauber | SS | 01:24.3 | 1.484 |
| 21-Feb | Maldonado | Lotus | SS | 01:24.3 | 1.556 |
| 1-Mar | Verstappen | Toro Rosso | SS | 01:24.5 | 1.735 |
| 20-Feb | Ricciardo | Red Bull | S | 01:24.6 | 1.782 |
| 28-Feb | Hulkenberg | Force India | SS | 01:24.9 | 2.147 |
| 22-Feb | Kvyat | Red Bull | S | 01:24.9 | 2.149 |
| 1-Mar | Perez | Force India | SS | 01:25.1 | 2.321 |
| 28-Feb | Magnussen | McLaren | S | 01:25.2 | 2.433 |
| 1-Mar | Button | McLaren | SS | 01:25.3 | 2.535 |
| 20-Feb | Alonso | McLaren | S | 01:26.0 | 3.169 |
| 20-Feb | Palmer | Lotus | S | 01:26.3 | 3.488 |
| 21-Feb | Wehrlein | Force India | M | 01:27.3 | 4.541 |
| 19-Feb | Wehrlein | Mercedes | H | 01:28.5 | 5.697 |
| 19-Feb | Wolff | Williams | M | 01:28.9 | 6.114 |
Last time I checked the race time in Melbourne, the organizers were still saying the starting time was to be confirmed. However, I believe it should be noon our time. We will be watching at Jameson’s Irish Pub (Soi AR, next to Nova Park), so join us for lunch about 11 a.m. in time for the race.
