Lewis Hamilton bounced back from a disastrous start to finish the first day in Australia on top of the times, emphasising that as expected Mercedes will set the pace this weekend.
Hamilton stopped on track at the start of FP1 due to a sensor issue, but ran 37 troublefree laps in the second session to head team mate Nico Rosberg by just 0.157s.
“To miss the first session is kind of unusual, I didn’t even get round half a lap, I had to stop,” he said. “It’s a shame because there was the 10-15 minutes when no one was running, they could easily have brought the car back. I felt I was really on the back foot already. But I got up to pace quite quickly and found the balance relatively fast as well, so I feel positive.
“I think basically we got a nice foundation in P2, so I hope I can build on that in P3, and see where we end up in qualifying. Of course it would have been great to have had P1, but at the end of the day I got enough running thankfully in P2, so I feel quite comfortable in the car. I’ve got a good understanding of what’s going on on the car on the track and fuel and all that kind of stuff. I feel positive. I’m glad I got through it.”
Lewis said he hadn’t had time to assess the opposition: “To be honest I’ve not really looked at anyone today, I’ve just focussed on myself. We’ll see tomorrow.”
Adam Cooper F1 