Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Australian GP practices 18.03.2016: 2016 Australian Grand Prix - Friday Stop / start opening day as rain interrupts running at Albert Park

2016 Australian Grand Prix - Friday



 
Stop / start opening day as rain interrupts running at Albert Park


•    Lewis topped both sessions in mixed conditions

•    Nico was forced to sit out the majority of P2 after contact with the wall at Turn 7

•    Both drivers used the intermediate and soft compound tyres



Drivers    No.    Chassis No.    Practice 1    Practice 2

Lewis Hamilton     44     F1 W07 Hybrid/01     14 laps     1:29.725     P1     7 laps     1:38.841     P1
Nico Rosberg     6     F1 W07 Hybrid/03     11 laps     1:31.814     P6     4 laps     1:47.356     P15
Weather    Intermittent showers
Temperatures    Air: 16 - 19 °C    Track: 18 - 28 °C



Lewis Hamilton

That was a good day. The car performed well and although we didn't get a huge number of laps in, they were still quite constructive sessions. I was lucky to get a couple of dry laps to get a tiny feeling for what the balance is like around here, which was down to some good work from the team to time my runs right.


Generally, though, I'm just excited to be here and to get back in the car. When I was sitting in the garage, I felt like a kid waiting to open his presents at Christmas. Hopefully it'll be a dry day tomorrow so we can get plenty of laps in and give something back to the fans who have braved the weather today.
 



Nico Rosberg

That wasn't a good start to the weekend for me. It was very wet out there, which made it tricky. It's a shame that I lost the car in P2. I just applied a little too much throttle through Turn 7, spun round and touched the wall. My front wing was quite damaged, so unfortunately the boys will have some extra work to do tonight.


My apologies go to them and a big thank you for their hard work. I'm now looking forwards towards qualifying and the race to put in a better performance.




Paddy Lowe, Executive Director (Technical)

A bit of a frustrating day, which is unfortunate for the first day of the season and for the fans in particular. At best, we managed to string one or two sectors together on a track which was only ever dry in certain places. Then, in FP2, Nico just lost the back end of the car and collided with the wall, so not the best day overall.


Fortunately it wasn't too major. The front wing was damaged and we've replaced the left front corner as a precaution - but nothing that will affect him over the rest of the weekend. We have a lot of work to do in FP3 tomorrow to prepare for qualifying and the race - but it's the same for everybody.


We're looking forward to seeing how it all plays out and hoping for some dry weather.
 
 


Ben Cowley - photos Mercedes