Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Prix – Practice – Friday
Here is a full report on what happened during the Formula 1 Rolex Australian Grand Practice – Friday with team and driver interviews after the session.
Over the past couple of days, Hamilton has maintained that Ferrari are the guys to beat however during the first practice session it seemed to be a different story with both the Mercedes drivers topping the time sheets.
As soon as FP2 came along – it was a different story with Ferrari showing more of their speed and getting in the mix between the two Mercedes drivers…
See what the teams and drivers had to say. 
Mercedes AMG Petronas
Lewis Hamilton
FP1 – 1:24.220
FP2 – 1:23.620
“We knew in FP1 that Ferrari weren’t at their maximum – in FP2 all of a sudden, they were real quick!”
“It’s great to be back in Australia and I’m super-happy to be back in the car – particularly after a first day like that.”
“It was 99 per cent perfect and after struggling with some issues in Barcelona, we didn’t know if we’d have the same thing here.”
“What’s really encouraging is that we’ve arrived at the track just a week later and the car is exactly where it should be. It’s feeling great out there and the guys have done a fantastic job – we’ve shown we’re in good form so far on both the long and short runs and we got every lap that we wanted to.”
“The tyres performed really well today too and coming into today, we really didn’t know where we would be! We knew from FP1 that Ferrari weren’t at their maximum.”
“In FP2 all of a sudden – they were real quick, we’ll see tomorrow how it really stands – I just feel very much at home in Melbourne, there’a always such a great buzz here and a lot of supper – I’m just really happy to see everyone and receive their positive energy.”
Valtteri Bottas
FP1 – 1:24.803
FP2 – 1:24.176
“I definitely feel like I can make a step forward tomorrow – it will be a busy evening for us.”
“It was great to be back on track after Barcelona and overall, it was a good day today. We still have work to do with the car balance but we got all of our running completed without any issues.”
“From my side, I definitely feel like I can make a step forward tomorrow – it will be a busy evening for us tonight, looking through all the data to see where we can improve but it’s a reasonable start.”
“In terms of our pace – it’s only practice and tomorrow we will find out exactly where we are – these tyre compounds are the right choice for the race and the softer compounds all felt good.”
“The track is always quite dirty at the start of the weekend but we’ll get used to it.”
James Allison – Technical Director
“The car seems strong and we’re looking forward to seeing what we can do with it.”
“It always seems like a bit of a cliche to say that we were pleased to get through our programme smoothly – in first practice of a new season and particularly under new regulations like these, I think it’s really important to achieve that and to also leave the car intact for Saturday.”
“On both counts – I think we can say that today was a smooth day – our programme focused on trying various tyre compounds that we have available this weekend to see what kind of pace degradation we can expect from them.”
“We also worked to ensure that the car has reasonable balance with race fuel and lower fuel – our long run pace looked decent but it’s harder to tell where we stand at this stage in terms of single lap pace.”
“We’ll find out tomorrow but overall the car seems strong and we’re looking forward to seeing what we can do with it.”
Red Bull Racing
Daniel Ricciardo
FP1 – 1:24.886
FP2 – 1:24.650
“Mercedes is quick but it’s more Lewis at the moment than Valtteri – he’s more in the group of Ferrari – I think we can be there as well.”
“We looked pretty strong this morning and then we tried a few things this afternoon but I don’t think they worked out in our favour.”
“I’d like to learn a bit more form this afternoon’s test session and then if we could pull all of that together with the strength of this morning – I’ll be happy.”
“Mercedes sure is quick but it’s more Lewis at the moment than Valtteri who looks like he’s more in the group of Ferrari – I think we can be there as well.”
“Pole might be a stretch but I think we can be in that next little group with the right set-up and the right lap in quali – if Lewis foes the perfect lap then that’ll be a challenge to take pole away from him but we’re not too far off!”
“You certainly feel a lot more traction with the new tyres – I thought the times would have been quicker though.”
“There’s still a lot to improve tomorrow and I think the wind changes so that’ll make a quicker lap time but the traction is nice – it felt awesome to be out on track this morning and I just felt happy that I was back in my happy place – it was cool to already see so many fans on a Friday.”
“It’s a circuit I enjoy because of the fun layout – I think we can have a good weekend.”
Max Verstappen
FP1 – 1:25.246
FP2 – 1:25.013
“We are about where I expected us to be.”
“Today was about trying to find and improve the balance of the car after getting out on track for the first Friday practice of the year.”
“We are about where I expected us to be – we have some work to do overnight to make sure we are in a good position for tomorrow and so we can get the best out of the car.”
“It was nice to try the RB13 for the first time here at Albert Park – it definitely felt faster and bit more enjoyable through the corners and being a street circuit – it will improve qualifying quite a lot which means more fun for us!”
“I ran wide and ended up on the grass which unfortunately damaged the floor and cut the second session short for me.”
“Mercedes seem quick again so they are the target but we must do some work overnight to be ahead of Ferrari who also look strong.”
“Hopefully we can have a good start on Sunday and then we are at the front and can make it hard to overtake.”
Sahara Force India
Sergio Perez
FP1 – 1:26.276
FP2 – 1:25.591
“We have the data we need to make improvements”
“It’s always important to start the year with a trouble free day and cover a lot of miles – as usual in Melbourne, the track was very green during the first session and evolved quite a lot for the second session.”
“We tried pretty much all the tyre compounds and we have the data we need to make improvements tonight.”
“I think there are a few areas in which we can find performance and we know where we need to focus our energy.”
Esteban Ocon
FP1 – 1:27.656
FP2 – 1:26.145
“We need to make changes and see where to find gains.”
“I didn’t have the best start to the day with a brake issue causing a delayed start to my running but the afternoon was easier and I managed to find a better rhythm.”
“The priority tonight is the usual job of exploring where we need to make changes and where we can find some gains and where I can improve too!”
“Hopefully, we can make a step forward during final practice and be ready for qualifying.”
Robert Fernley – Deputy Team Principal
“Esteban took on a mature approach to learning quite a difficult track.”
“As Friday’s go, it was a fairly routine start to the 2017 season and with a brake system problem on Esteban’s car was the only significant issue at the start of FP1.”
“Fortunately, we resolved that quite quickly allowing Esteban to get on with learning the track.”
“The VJM10 has been heaving as we expected from a set-up perspective which allowed us to push on with understanding the various types of compounds and seeing how they perform in these conditions compared to what we saw during pre-season testing.”
“All the information we collected today will determine our approach for the rest of the weekend.”
“Sergio’s programme was straightforward and Esteban took on a mature approach to learning quite a difficult track – we split some test items – aero and mechanical – between the two cars to make comparisons and that will help our decision making tonight.”
Sauber F1 Team
Marcus Ericsson
FP1 – 1:27.348
FP2 – 1:26.498
“We have made a step forward and it’s been a very nice start to the weekend.”
“Overall, it’s been a positive day for us – during testing in Barcelona we were not completely happy with the balance of the car and after analysing all the data – we have made a step forward.”
“Today we managed to run a good number of laps on different tyres compounds so overall it’s been a very nice start to the weekend.”
Pascal Wehrlein
FP1 – 1:28.539
FP2 – 1:26.919
“We have gathered some good data and we need to focus.”
“I am not fully satisfied with my first practice sessions today – we are still working on finding a suitable set-up for the car.”
“It’s positive that we have gathered some good data in both practice sessions and now we need to focus on tomorrow in order to reach further improvements.”
McLaren
Fernando Alonso
FP1 – 1:27.116
FP2 – 1:26.000
“There’s a lot more to come from us, we need to maximise our potential”
“Relative to winter testing, we had fewer issues today than what we had in Barcelona.”
“We could run a little bit more and we were able to extract more potential from the car – that’s a positive.”
There’s definitely more to come and we still need to keep working because we are quite far away from the front-runners in terms of lap time.”
“Every time we were on track today – though we learned something, we were able to test some new components and they all seem to be working find which again – is positive.”
“There’s still a lot more to come from us and we need to maximise our potential.”
Stoffel Vandoorne
FP1 – 1:28.695
FP2 – 1:26.608
“I’m finding time in the car on every lap – feeling more comfortable and happy.”
“The feeling with the car was okay today – Obviously I missed a lifted bit of running in FP1 but I think we had a good FP2 – catching up on mileage.”
“Getting the laps was my main focus today – I wanted to get some times on the board and do some longer runs to get a better understanding about the package we have.”
“It is very difficult to predict where we’ll qualify tomorrow – I’m not really looking at the lap times at the moment, it’s more about the feeling for me.”
“I’m still finding time in the car on every lap, feeling more comfortable and I’m happy that the set-up changes are going in the right direction.”
“I made a big improvement from FP1 to FP2 so hopefully tomorrow will be another step forward.”
Eric Boullier – Racing Director
“This was a pleasing first day.”
“After the difficulties of winter testing – it was satisfying to conclude today’s free practice sessions with minimal disruption.”
“In fact, we got plenty of laps under our belts and we were able to complete the run programme on both cars today so that was a steady step forward.”
“Today was really about evaluating and measuring the effectiveness of a number of new parts which we achieved in the first session. For FP2, we start to make more meaningful adjustments to the car’ set-up and concluded the day with some long runs.”
“It’s still too early to get an accurate read on where we stand but all things considered, this was a pleasing first day.”
Lots more coming soon!
xxx