Last year Ferrari qualified 1. Authentic Jerseys For Sale .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 Wholesale Jerseys For Sale .com) - Joe Pavelski scored twice to lead the San Jose Sharks in a 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oilers to split a home-and-home set. Stitched Jerseys For Sale . The victory strengthened Liverpools position in the top four after Tottenham lost 1-0 at Norwich in the days late kickoff, cutting the north London club six points adrift of fourth place and the final Champions League slot for next season. https://www.jerseysforsalechina.com/ . Ellis had a season-high 37 points and two key assists late, Dirk Nowitzki led a fourth-quarter rally with 14 of his 35 points, and the Mavericks spoiled Howards best offensive night in Houston with a 123-120 victory over the Rockets on Wednesday night.OTTAWA - Ottawa Senators owner Eugene Melnyk says he has no reason to feel embarrassed about his teams lack of spending.Ottawas payroll of US$55,804,597 is the lowest in the NHL leaving them plenty of room to spend, but dont expect Melnyk to open his wallet any time soon.Im not the least embarrassed about us spending at the bottom, Melnyk said Monday afternoon at his 11th annual charity skate for kids. Im happy about it because well be able to spend more in the future and some cant. Some are stuck.That being said, Melnyk is in no rush to increase his teams payroll despite his teams current position outside the playoff picture.The Senators are 11th in the Eastern Conference at 12-12-5 and would need to make some significant improvements to move into the top eight.Melnyk said he and general manager Bryan Murray spoke as recently as Monday morning.Were not in any way restricted, said Melnyk. (Murray) has not come back to me and he said theres nothing out there that he could actually spend money on.Thats not to say the Senators arent prepared to increase their payroll. With a number of players facing restricted free agency this summer Melnyk says they wont have any choice but to spend.For now, however, it appears the Senators will wait and see if its recent coaching change has any impact on the teams fortunes.The Senators fired head coach Paul MacLean last week and promoted Dave Cameron, who had been an assistant, to take over the coaching duties.Many assumed Cameron was Melnyks choice seeing as the two share a long history.Lets get this straight once and for all, Melnyk said. (Murray) makes the decisions. I stay out of the hockey operations, because otherwise if I get myself involved in that then I cant come out and point the finger at anybody.Melnyk said he was consulted on the decision to fire MacLean, but left the final decision up to Murray.I just let him do his thing, Mellnyk said. China Jerseys For Sale. Melnyk and Cameron have known each other since 2001, when Melnyk purchased the OHLs Toronto St. Michaels Majors while Cameron was the teams head coach.I think hes going to do great otherwise I dont think he would have been selected as being the next coach, Melnyk said. Hes patient, hes a hard worker, not to say Paul wasnt a hard worker — he was. If you add together hard work and I think a great attitude and the respect of the dressing room all together I think hell do well.Melnyk also addressed the possibility of building a new arena closer to Ottawas downtown core.The National Capital Commission launched a request for proposals to redevelop as much as 21.4 hectares of land at LeBreton Flats, a few blocks west of Parliament Hill.One criteria for the redevelopment proposal is the inclusion of an attraction of a regional, national or international significance that is also a world-class capital destination.Its very premature even to talk about this as we havent even decided were going to do this, said Melnyk. Theres a request for qualification and we havent submitted one yet, we have until Jan. 7, but if were going to do it we want to do it right. We want to be organized, we want to make sure that this has been very carefully thought through.Melnyk says should the organization decide to submit a proposal it would likely happen before Christmas.We want to do whats right for the city, for the fans, for the organization long term, said Melnyk. Thats the way I think, long term. Its not what happens this year, the year after, its what happens over the next 20 years from now.Melnyk also commented on the outbreak of mumps across the league.Its bizarre, he said. It could be serious if it gets through a dressing room and you could get five, six guys sitting on the sidelines so I think every team should be taking it seriously and we certainly do. ' ' '