Gästebuch » Vincent Viola has insisted for the past three ye

Last year Ferrari qualified 1.4s slower than Mercedes around Melbourne. This time Ferrari qualified within 0.8s of the Mercedes pole time. Furthermore, last year Albert Park was the furthest off the pace Ferrari qualified all year (when expressed as a percentage). Although race two of 2015 was in Malaysia (placed much later in the 2016 calendar), at race three in Bahrain, the Ferrari qualifying deficit to Mercedes was down to 0.905s.Essentially, the Ferrari was around 0.5s per lap more competitive in Bahrain qualifying than it had been in Australia. If (an important if) the switch of tracks finds the same benefit for Ferrari this time around, it would suggest a Mercedes qualifying advantage in Bahrain of no more than 0.3s. Different season, different cars, but the patterns and traits of performance between the two cars does seem quite similar this year to last. The Mercedes advantage over Ferrari does appear to be bigger on Saturday than Sunday and it does partly seem related to how potent its qualifying engine mode is and partly to the Ferraris struggles to generate front tyre temperature early in a single lap. A Ferrari that can get to within 0.3s of a Mercedes in qualifying might very well be able to match its pace on race day.Until the red flag stoppage at Melbourne, Sebastian Vettel was of course leading for Ferrari and might have been expected to have won but for Alonsos race-stopping crash. But Vettels place had everything to do with the track positioning bought by his superb start and the mediocre ones of the Mercs.The comparison was further clouded by the different tyre choices made by each team during the race. Take these things out of the picture and it did appear that the Mercedes retained a performance advantage on race day - but by a smaller amount than in qualifying. Just like last year. Sebastian Vettel (left) led the Australian Grand Prix until the red flag There is potentially another similarity too. Last year, Ferrari ran their power units quite conservatively in Melbourne. But from Malaysia onwards through Bahrain and China, they felt confident enough to turn them up - and in those races they were at least on a par with Mercedes for race day horsepower, possibly even slightly ahead (this was before the Spain clarification on fuel flow interpretation).In Melbourne this year, Ferrari again was carefully managing their power units during the race. Kimi Raikkonen in particular could be observed varying the amount of electrical deployment, according to how defensive he needed to be.Something was giving Ferrari concern about being able to run with full deployment for extended periods. Its possible this was connected to Raikkonens turbo issues that subsequently forced him to retire, but Mercedes engineers looking at the numbers suspect that Ferrari were running their engines less aggressively than in Barcelona testing. Kimi Raikkonen had to retire his Ferrari on lap 23 of the Australian GP, after suffering a fire in his airbox If this was related to a specific reliability worry Ferrari had over a component and it can be resolved by the next race, then a return to full power in Bahrain could well be enough to allow Ferrari to fight Mercedes on pure performance - on race day at least.But longer term, a major focus of Ferraris attention will be on matching the power Mercedes have available for short bursts during qualifying. These extra engine modes are extremely potent and Mercedes development work during the winter - centred around extending the duration of combustion, thereby moving the detonation threshold yet further back, allowing more power for longer - has allowed them to become even more so.More than ever in the hybrid era, such developments have to be made jointly with the engine department, the fuel supplier and spark plug manufacturer. Although Ferrari appear to have a car capable of racing the Mercs, a breakthrough in qualifying performance is going to be needed before the Scuderia can control their races from the front, rather than relying on better starts or strategy to get them there. Nico Rosberg (left) won in Melbourne despite a poor start Yet even if they fail to make that step change this year, if they can regularly challenge the silver arrows, the respective dynamics of the driver line-ups of each team might yet offer Ferrari a realistic hope of stealing the title. Vettel is much more clearly a team No 1 than either of the Mercedes drivers. If - as happened in both 2014 and 15 - Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg takes points from each other while Vettel consistently finishes ahead of Raikkonen, it could be the crucial differentiator.Last year the Ferrari wasnt quite fast enough to make that matter. This year, it just might be.Dont miss the F1 Report for all the reaction and analysis from the Australian GP. Natalie Pinkham is joined by David Brabham and former McLaren mechanic Marc Priestley on Wednesday at 8:30pm on Sky Sports F1. Every race live in 2016 Sky Sports F1 brings you every race live in 2016. Fast and easy online upgrade - click here. Also See: Brundle: Australia serves up a treat Every 2016 race live Flames Jerseys China . LeBron James and Chris Bosh didnt need any more. Williams scored 11 points in 10 minutes, Alan Anderson scored 17 points, and the Brooklyn Nets finished the exhibition season with a 108-87 win over the Miami Heat on Friday night. Calgary Flames Store . -- The Missouri Tigers might not have a roster full of superstars. https://www.cheapflames.com/ .J. -- New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz will miss the rest of the season after having surgery on his left knee. Custom Calgary Flames Jerseys . Burke is expected to miss two to three months after breaking a finger in the teams third preseason game. Tinsley, a 10-year veteran, spent the last two seasons in Utah, where the point guard averaged 3. Flames Jerseys 2020 . They reached the 100-point plateau for the fourth time in five games, bested the visiting Trail Blazers by 34 in the paint and scored 19 of the final 25 points in regulation. SOCCERMOSCOW -- Players from Russias under-21 national soccer team had suspicious drug-test samples covered up, emails released by a World Anti-Doping Agency investigation show.The emails, released this month as part of WADA investigator Richard McLarens report on Russian doping, state that there were five suspicious samples in the Russian mens under-17 and under-21 national teams in 2013 and 2014.Another case in the Russian league was allegedly covered up by then-Sports Minister Vitaly Mutko, who is also in charge of the countrys World Cup preparations. The FIFA ethics committee said it will examine the report thoroughly in response to the allegations about soccer and the role of Mutko, who sits on the FIFA Council.GENEVA -- Fans could win more freedom to make political protests at soccer stadiums in a UEFA review of its disciplinary rules.European soccers governing body wants existing rules which prohibit non-soccer statements to evolve to reflect the nature of the society in which we live.UEFAs statement follows Barcelona dropping a Court of Arbitration for Sport appeal against fines imposed for fans supporting Catalonian independence.It was published as FIFA drew criticism in Britain for upholding its rules prohibiting political, religious and personal statements in all 211 member federations. It fined the four British soccer bodies for displays at World Cup qualifying matches last month that remembered their nations war dead.UEFA said it recognized that rules across international soccer which bar political statements are not set in stone.ZURICH -- The FIFA ethics committee has banned two Honduras officials for life for taking bribes, as they await sentencing in the United States on soccer corruption charges.Former FIFA vice president Alfredo Hawit and Rafael Callejas, the Honduras state president from 1990-94, previously made guilty pleas to racketeering and wire-fraud conspiracy charges in the U.S. Department of Justices sprawling investigation of corruption in international soccer.Hawit also pleaded guilty to conspiracy to obstruct justice.Their expulsions from soccer were announced by the FIFA ethics committee which routinely imposes life bans on officials who plead guilty in Brooklyn federal court.PRO FOOTBALLMINNEAPOLIS -- Two Twittter users have admitted they started a false rumor that the Minnesota Vikings were opening their new stadium to the homeless during this weekends extreme cold.ddddddddddddMarketer Jake Nyberg and fitness coach David Dellanave say their tweets were a hoax meant to push the idea that taxpayer-funded U.S. Bank Stadium could be used to keep the homeless warm. Dellanave told The Associated Press it was a stupid way to do it and hes sorry. Nyberg has since deactivated his account and didnt immediately return messages from the AP.Yahoo Sports and CBS Sports posted stories that assumed the tweets were true.But it appears no homeless people fell for the hoax. The Minnesota Sports Facilities Authority says nobody sought shelter at the stadium.HOCKEYSUNRISE, Fla. -- Vincent Viola has insisted for the past three years that his sole focus as owner of the Florida Panthers was to win the franchises first Stanley Cup.Hell be otherwise occupied now.Violas nomination by President-elect Donald Trump to be the next secretary of the Army means he will be giving up his roles as chairman and governor of the Panthers, pending his confirmation by the Senate.But the Panthers said the move -- which top team executives learned was coming late last week -- will not change the day-to-day hockey operations.Viola, a 1977 West Point graduate who bought the Panthers in 2013, plans to have the chairman and governor positions filled by his longtime business partner Doug Cifu.RALEIGH, N.C. -- A scheduled game between the Carolina Hurricanes and Detroit Red Wings was postponed because of unplayable ice.A Freon leak in the cooling system at PNC Arena was discovered earlier in the day. The issue was fixed, but not in time to restart the game. NHL rules state a game cannot start less than 22 hours before a teams next scheduled contest, and the Red Wings are set to play at Tampa Bay at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday night.Carolina announced a delay on Twitter about 15 minutes before the scheduled start time of 7 p.m., then publicized the postponement around 8:45 p.m.Hurricanes President Don Waddell said a makeup date would probably be decided on Tuesday or Wednesday. ' ' '