Posted on 13th March 2015
Nico Rosberg quickest in the first practice session of the season in Melbourne
On the first practice session of the season (and also at Melbourne), Nico Rosberg set the pace for Mercedes ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton and Williams driver Valtteri Bottas.
With the current legal situation surrounding Sauber, Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr were present at the track but did not run in the session in order to not breach the order upheld by the Supreme Court of Victoria regarding Giedo van der Garde (who was also present in the paddock and is awaiting to see if he can gain a superlicence from the FIA in order to race this weekend) while also awaiting a court hearing decision that is expected at 15.30pm Melbourne time.
Manor F1 were also present at the circuit, but sadly due to a range of issues, they could not run in the session until the team are able sort the issues that are currently hindering them to run on the track.
During the session, we saw Kevin Magnussen at Turn 3 struggling to keep the McLaren-Honda on the track due to a tailwind. Also, we saw Sebastian Vettel and Valtteri Bottas pushing the limits of the track while also seeing Daniel Ricciardo spinning in the final sector of one of his laps on track.
In a session that saw all the drivers and the teams pushing their cars to the limit around a 'green' Albert Park circuit, Mercedes picked up where they left off when Rosberg set a laptime of 1.39.557 which was 0.029 seconds faster than Hamilton who finished the session in second place ahead of Bottas who was 1.191 seconds behind the Mercedes drivers.
Carlos Sainz Jr had a pleasing opening to his Formula One debut and finished the session in fourth place ahead of Sebastian Vettel in fifth place, fellow rookie and his team mate Max Verstappen in sixth place and Felipe Massa who ended the session in seventh place.Kimi Raikkonen finished the session in eighth place ahead of Pastor Maldonado in ninth and Daniel Ricciardo who rounded off the top ten finishers.
Ricciardo's team mate Daniil Kvyat ended the session in eleventh place ahead of the two Force India drivers of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg who finished in twelfth and thirteenth places and also ahead of the McLaren-Honda drivers of Jenson Button and Kevin Magnussen who finished the session in fourteenth and fifteenth places.
Also at the end of the session, we saw the FIA deploying the Virtual Safety Car system that has been introduced for this season as a result of their findings regarding the tragic accident that Jules Bianchi suffered in the Japanese Grand Prix last season.
The classification of FP1 for the Australian GP is as follows:-
1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1.25.557
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 0.029s
3. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 1.191s
4. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 1.457s
5. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1.472s
6. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 1.510s
7. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 1.631s
8. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1.753s
9. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus-Mercedes, 1.894s
10. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-Renault, 2.013s
11. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull-Renault, 2.516s
12. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 2.690s
13. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 2.704s
14. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, 4.985s
15. Kevin Magnussen, McLaren-Honda, 5.228s
[Sauber and Manor did not run in the session]
FP2 in Melbourne
After setting the pace in FP1, Nico Rosberg picked up where he left off and remained at the top of the timesheets ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari driver Sebastian Vettel.
Both Daniel Ricciardo and Felipe Massa did not run in the session due to issues on both of their cars which affected their ability to participate in the session.
During the session, we saw in the early part of the session Romain Grosjean locking up at Turn 3 and running off after going into the corner too deep.
Grosjean's team mate Pastor Maldonado had the same problem not long after him but both were able to continue during the session.
We also saw Kevin Magnussen hitting the wall after going into Turn 5 a bit too deep and losing the car before hitting the apex of the corner while just thirty minutes before the end of the session, Carlos Sainz Jr spun at Turn 15 and Marcus Ericsson in the final corner braking his front suspension.
In the final few minutes of the session, Jenson Button suffered a loss of power in the McLaren-Honda and had to end his session early but was able to get more mileage under his belt.
In a session that saw all the drivers and the teams pushing their cars to the limit around a 'green' Albert Park circuit still , Mercedes picked up where they left off in FP1when Rosberg set a laptime of 1.27.677 which was 0.100 seconds faster than Hamilton who finished the session in second place ahead of Vettel who was 0.715 seconds behind the Mercedes drivers.
Kimi Raikkonen ended the session in fourth place ahead of Valtteri Bottas in fifth place, Daniil Kvyat in sixth place and Carlos Sainz Jr in seventh place.
The Lotus drivers of Pastor Maldonado and Romain Grosjean finished the session in eighth and ninth places ahead of the Force India of Nico Hulkenberg who rounded off the top ten finishers.
Felipe Nasr finished the session in eleventh place ahead of Sergio Perez in twelfth place, Jenson Button in thirteenth place and Max Verstappen in fourteenth place. As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Marcus Ericsson ended the session in fifteenth place ahead of Kevin Magnussen in sixteenth place.
Also at the end of the session, we saw the FIA deploying the Virtual Safety Car system that has been introduced for this season as a result of their findings regarding the tragic accident that Jules Bianchi suffered in the Japanese Grand Prix last season.
The classification of FP2 for the Australian GP is as follows:-
1. Nico Rosberg, Mercedes, 1.27.697
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 0.100s
3. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 0.715s
4. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1.145s
5. Valtteri Bottas, Williams-Mercedes, 1.568s
6. Daniil Kvyat, Red Bull-Renault, 2.319s
7. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 2.374s
8. Pastor Maldonado, Lotus-Mercedes, 2.487s
9. Romain Grosjean, Lotus-Mercedes, 2.508s
10. Nico Hulkenberg, Force India-Mercedes, 2.776s
11. Felipe Nasr, Sauber-Ferrari, 3.058s
12. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 3.283s
13. Jenson Button, McLaren-Honda, 3.690s
14. Max Verstappen, Toro Rosso, 3.698s
15. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 4.606s
16. Kevin Magnussen, McLaren-Honda, 5.592s
[Daniel Ricciardo, Felipe Massa nor the two Manor Drivers failed to run in the session]
