Red Bull and Ferrari headline biggest 'losers' in Australia

Red Bull and Ferrari have both endured a difficult weekend so far at the F1 season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

Whilst the latter showed pace during the practice, with Charles Leclerc topping FP2, it found itself well off McLaren's front-running form in qualifying.

Conversely, Max Verstappen put in an impressive display in the grid-setting session to claim third - albeit almost four-tenths of a second shy of pole-sitter Lando Norris, who locked out the front row with team-mate Oscar Piastri - having experienced a relatively quiet weekend up to that point.

However, it is only when the comparative performance of the entire field is contrasted against the same session 12 months ago that the extent of their difficulties becomes truly apparent.

Each of the 10 teams has taken a step forward since last year's trip to Melbourne, but both Red Bull and Ferrari have improved significantly less than its two closest rivals - and most of the paddock in general.

In that previous visit to Albert Park, Verstappen took pole from Carlos Sainz, who went on to victory after the Dutchman retired, but this term, Ferrari could only reach the fourth row. Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton will line up in seventh and eighth, respectively.

Whilst McLaren and Mercedes have shaved 1.22 and 1.18 seconds off their lap times, the Italian team and the Milton Keynes squad have only been able find a 0.43 second reduction.

This is outlined in the graph below, after which the article continues.

Melbourne qualifying pace: A tale of two cities

That relatively small improvement squarely places Red Bull and Ferrari in the worst of two distinct camps across the F1 teams in Melbourne.

Only Stake appears to be straddling the divide, with half the 10 outfits finding at least a second compared to this time last year.

Red Bull and Ferrari are joined by Aston Martin and Haas, the latter of which is suffering through a surprisingly difficult weekend at Albert Park with progress of less than three-tenths of a second.

Alpine is the clear winner, with a jump of 1.64 seconds. That, however, is in part made possible by its disastrous start to the 2024 season.

Similarly, Williams has found just shy of 1.4 seconds per lap. The Grove-based team managed to get both drivers inside the top 10 during qualifying in Australia for the first time in a decade.

Alex Albon's mammoth lap to line up sixth for the grand prix was joined by that of Yuki Tsunoda, who sent a serious statement to his doubters by planting his Racing Bulls machine fifth of the grid - punctuated by the torrid weekend Liam Lawson is having at Red Bull.

Damage to the cars of Kimi Antonelli and Fernando Alonso also partly concealed the full picture for Mercedes and Aston Martin, respectively.