Australian GP qualifying - Speed traps

F1 Grand Prix, GP Australia, Albert Park

The speed traps recorded during qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix show more or less the same ranking order as in 2015. While Force India and Williams continue to be among the fastest in a straight line, McLaren are still at the bottom of the charts.

Where Valtteri Bottas was fastest last year, recording a top speed of 329 in qualifying, this year it's Nico Hulkenberg, just 1.3 km/h quicker. While Force India have regularly been among the fastest cars in 2016, at Melbourne this year both drivers at roughly 5 km/h faster than last year, whereas Williams have remained approximately the same, possibly indicating the team's push for more downforce on the car, after producing 2 very slippery cars in 2014 and 2015.

Just like Force India, the works Mercedes team are around 5 km/h faster this year, while Ferrari are reaching about the same top speeds.

At the bottom end of the listing is still the Honda-powered McLarens, even though with 320 km/h they are now much more among their rivals and up 8 km/h for both drivers since last year.

There's a similar story for Toro Rosso as well, who have switched from Renault to last year's Ferrari power units. With Sainz and Verstappen reaching 315.9 and 314.7 respectively, they have both made a considerable step forward to around 320 km/h, but that has clearly not moved them up in the top speed rankings.