Red Bull were beaten on-track by Ferrari at the Australian Grand Prix, but again managed to outpace their rivals when it came to pit-stops.
The Milton Keynes-based squad endured a weekend of mixed fortunes in Melbourne, with Max Verstappen's race ending in retirement on Lap 39 of 58 due to a mechanical issue.
Meanwhile, Sergio Perez became the team's sole points-scorer by clinching P2, but finished some 20 seconds back from winner Charles Leclerc.
Despite this, Red Bull were able to take the top spot in terms of achieving the fastest pit-stop of the weekend.
Perez's visit to the pits was timed at 2.27 seconds, which was not only the quickest stop in Melbourne but also the most rapid of the season so far.
Further success for McLaren
McLaren proved to be Red Bull's closest challengers in this area. The second and third fastest stops of the race were claimed by Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo. Incredibly, both drivers achieved a time of 2.42 seconds.
This continues the trend of the papaya outfit's success in the pit lane, having previously taken the quickest time of all last time out in Saudi Arabia.
Another team to consistently record fast pit-stops is Williams. In Melbourne, Nicholas Latifi's stop of 2.53 seconds was the fourth best of all.
Ferrari took fifth position, with Charles Leclerc's visit to the pits coming in at 2.71 seconds, over four tenths of a second back from Red Bull.
Fastest pit-stop times in Australia
Pos. | Team | Driver | Time |
---|---|---|---|
1. | Red Bull | Perez | 2.27 |
2. | McLaren | Norris | 2.42 |
3. | McLaren | Ricciardo | 2.42 |
4. | Williams | Latifi | 2.53 |
5. | Ferrari | Leclerc | 2.71 |
6. | Mercedes | Hamilton | 2.79 |
7. | Red Bull | Verstappen | 2.90 |
8. | Aston Martin | Stroll | 3.02 |
9. | AlphaTauri | Tsunoda | 3.08 |
10. | Alfa Romeo | Zhou | 3.15 |
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F1 Podcast: Can fast but fragile Red Bull respond to Leclerc's charge?
RacingNews365.com F1 journalists Dieter Rencken, Mike Seymour and Thomas Maher look back over the Australian Grand Prix, where Ferrari's Charles Leclerc triumphed and Red Bull's Max Verstappen retired.
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F1 2022 Australian Grand Prix RN365 News dossier
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