AUSTRALIAN GP – FRIDAY PRACTICE RESULTS

PRACTICE TWO

Report – Nico Rosberg was fastest in the second free practice session just ended at Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit, home to the first round of the Formula 1 World Championship. Behind the German Mercedes driver, who posted a 1.27.697, came his team-mate Lewis Hamilton (1.27.797) and the two SF15-T of Sebastian Vettel (1.28.412) and Kimi Raikkonen (1.28.842.) Both Scuderia Ferrari drivers worked on set-up, running different aero downforce levels and comparing the Medium and Soft compounds chosen by Pirelli for this track. Raikkonen, just over seven tenths slower than his team-mate, admitted over the radio that it was “not a very good lap”. FP2 Times:

Pos	Driver	Car	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1m27.697s	–	29
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1m27.797s	0.100s	25
3	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1m28.412s	0.715s	33
4	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1m28.842s	1.145s	33
5	Valtteri Bottas	Williams/Mercedes	1m29.265s	1.568s	32
6	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull/Renault	1m30.016s	2.319s	27
7	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m30.071s	2.374s	41
8	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus/Mercedes	1m30.104s	2.407s	11
9	Romain Grosjean	Lotus/Mercedes	1m30.205s	2.508s	37
10	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India/Mercedes	1m30.473s	2.776s	30
11	Felipe Nasr	Sauber/Ferrari	1m30.755s	3.058s	33
12	Sergio Perez	Force India/Mercedes	1m30.980s	3.283s	32
13	Jenson Button	McLaren/Honda	1m31.387s	3.690s	21
14	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m31.395s	3.698s	6
15	Marcus Ericsson	Sauber/Ferrari	1m32.303s	4.606s	14
16	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren/Honda	1m33.289s	5.592s	4

#FP2 long runs average lap time #Raikkonen 1:32.353 #Vettel 1:32.850 #Rosberg 1:32.228 #Hamilton 1:32.484 #Bottas 1:33.016 #Kvyat 1:33.987 — Lorenzo De Luca (@LorenzoDL83) March 13, 2015

Not bad RT @FulvioVigilante: Kimi 2014 vs Kimi 2015 #AusGP #FP2 #SkyMotori pic.twitter.com/rQUfYM0pOO — KimiRäikkönenSpace (@EvenstarSaima) March 13, 2015

Kimi about the radio 😂 RT @f1fanatic_co_uk: Team radio highlights from #AusGP weekend: http://t.co/Uu1DJOmd7J pic.twitter.com/yh1aLPp2ot

— KimiRäikkönenSpace (@EvenstarSaima) March 20, 2015

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PRACTICE ONE

Report – The Ferraris of Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen finished the opening free practice session of the Australian Grand Prix in fifth and eighth places respectively, to get the 2015 season underway. Vettel completed 13 laps in his SF15-T with a best of 1.31.029, while Raikkonen did 14, the fastest being a 1.31.310. Both drivers used the Medium tyres, working on a programme featuring aero testing and set-up work to suit the car to the semi-permanent Albert Park circuit, which was still too dirty for any more in depth work. FP1 Times:

Pos	Driver	Car	Time	Gap	Laps
1	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes	1m29.557s	–	19
2	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1m29.586s	0.029s	19
3	Valtteri Bottas	Williams/Mercedes	1m30.748s	1.191s	20
4	Carlos Sainz Jr.	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m31.014s	1.457s	32
5	Sebastian Vettel	Ferrari	1m31.029s	1.472s	13
6	Max Verstappen	Toro Rosso/Renault	1m31.067s	1.510s	31
7	Felipe Massa	Williams/Mercedes	1m31.188s	1.631s	19
8	Kimi Raikkonen	Ferrari	1m31.310s	1.753s	14
9	Pastor Maldonado	Lotus/Mercedes	1m31.451s	1.894s	22
10	Daniel Ricciardo	Red Bull/Renault	1m31.570s	2.013s	9
11	Daniil Kvyat	Red Bull/Renault	1m32.073s	2.516s	18
12	Sergio Perez	Force India/Mercedes	1m32.247s	2.690s	22
13	Nico Hulkenberg	Force India/Mercedes	1m32.261s	2.704s	19
14	Jenson Button	McLaren/Honda	1m34.542s	4.985s	6
15	Kevin Magnussen	McLaren/Honda	1m34.785s	5.228s	7
16	Romain Grosjean	Lotus/Mercedes	2m17.782s	48.225s	5

GALLERY

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QUOTES

Kimi Raikkonen: “It was a typical Friday of free practice. In the first session I could not drive very well and it was difficult to put a good lap together. So, for the second session, we made some changes to the car before the long-runs and, in the end, the feeling was better. Now if we can put everything together and find a good lap, we should be OK. It was a positive day overall, and the feeling hasn’t changed since winter testing: I think the whole package has improved. On the other hand, it’s only Friday, and we know we still have a lot of work to do”.