Hamilton stays on top as Rosberg crashes

2016 Australian Grand Prix second practice

Posted on

| Written by

Lewis Hamilton was quickest in another rain-hit practice session ahead of the Australian Grand Prix while his team mate hit the wall.

Unlike in first practice, the second session never dried sufficiently for dry-weather tyres to be used. The session began on a very wet track and Hamilton waited until the conditions had improved considerably before hitting the top with his first flying lap time.

Nico Rosberg took to the track much sooner but was caught out by the tricky conditions. The Mercedes got away from him at turn seven and hit the barrier, breaking its front wing.

Rosberg began to limp back to the pits but Mercedes were told by the FIA to park his car, which he duly did. That ended his participation in proceedings.

The two Force India drivers showed promising pace. Nico Hulkenberg was second fastest and Sergio Perez went quickest in the first two sectors before having to back off when the rain returned at the end of his lap.

Kimi Raikkonen, Daniel Ricciardo and Carlos Sainz Jnr completed the top five – the latter posting his best time at the end of the session having not got on the board in the morning session. His team mate was one of seven drivers who elected not to set times, including both Williams and Renault drivers.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
144Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’38.8417
227Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’39.3080.4678
37Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’39.4860.6457
43Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’39.5350.6949
555Carlos Sainz JnrToro Rosso-Ferrari1’39.6940.85316
614Fernando AlonsoMcLaren-Honda1’39.8951.05416
722Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Honda1’40.0081.16713
85Sebastian VettelFerrari1’40.7611.9207
911Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’41.2562.4158
1026Daniil KvyatRed Bull-TAG Heuer1’42.4113.57010
1121Esteban GutierrezHaas-Ferrari1’42.8914.05010
1294Pascal WehrleinManor-Mercedes1’43.4014.56025
138Romain GrosjeanHaas-Ferrari1’43.7314.8908
1488Rio HaryantoManor-Mercedes1’44.3045.46322
156Nico RosbergMercedes1’47.3568.5154
1620Kevin MagnussenRenault2
1730Jolyon PalmerRenault5
1819Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes2
1977Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes2
209Marcus EricssonSauber-Ferrari0
2112Felipe NasrSauber-Ferrari0
2233Max VerstappenToro Rosso-Ferrari0

Second practice visual gaps

Lewis Hamilton – 1’38.841

+0.467 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’39.308

+0.645 Kimi Raikkonen – 1’39.486

+0.694 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’39.535

+0.853 Carlos Sainz Jnr – 1’39.694

+1.054 Fernando Alonso – 1’39.895

+1.167 Jenson Button – 1’40.008

+1.920 Sebastian Vettel – 1’40.761

+2.415 Sergio Perez – 1’41.256

+3.570 Daniil Kvyat – 1’42.411

+4.050 Esteban Gutierrez – 1’42.891

+4.560 Pascal Wehrlein – 1’43.401

+4.890 Romain Grosjean – 1’43.731

+5.463 Rio Haryanto – 1’44.304

+8.515 Nico Rosberg – 1’47.356

Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.

Author information

Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

Got a potential story, tip or enquiry? Find out more about RaceFans and contact us here.

68 comments on “Hamilton stays on top as Rosberg crashes”

  1. Well, so much for running on a wave of confidence from last years last few races.

    Off course in effect both drivers had roughly the same amount of running today, but the mind doesn’t see it that way. Hamilton will be satisfied both from putting it on top AND from his teammate meeting the wall and denting his confidence.

    Bring on FP3 (dry??) to see how fast the cars really can go this year!

    Otherwise, seems Haas are not quite as close to the midfield (here) as some predicted them to be. With more experienced drivers they still were not miles ahead of Manor. I hope to see both those teams mix it in with at least the Saubers.

    1. Chris (@tophercheese21)
      18th March 2016, 7:35

      I wouldn’t look to heavily into the times. Both sessions were heavily interrupted with changes in weather none of the teams got any meaningful running. It won’t be until we get a dry qualifying that we truly know where people stack up.

      1. I have to agree @tophercheese21, @bascb, we probably don’t expect McLaren to be in Q3 just yet, nor will Vettel be so far down. Force India and Red Bull did show a pretty good car, Sainz might be around where we expect STR to be, and Raikkonen probably showed he looks better this year than last, but I don’t think the times say much more than that so far.

        I do agree about ROS/HAM though @bascb, not looking like end of last year but more like rest of 2015 with HAM confidently ahead. Let’s hope that turns out untrue, and that RAI and VET do have something to say about it.

        Will be a very busy FP3 for everyone, perhaps with a taste of how start of Q1 is going to go with cars hindering each other!

        1. Then again @bascb, apparently on bbc site Andrew Benson notes “Alonso, whose lap was especially impressive for being set when conditions were wetter than those ahead of him on the timesheets”, so perhaps your prediction of Alonso in the top 5 isn’t in need of revision :)

          1. Andrew Benson would call an Alonso retirement impressive…

        2. petebaldwin (@)
          18th March 2016, 10:26

          Can’t see why anyone would have expected Rosberg to be on the pace with Hamilton suddenly… That extra 10% Hamilton can find only comes out when his head is in the right place – when he’s fallen out with his partner, has fallen out with his team or isn’t fighting for anything, he suddenly looks average. As soon as he wont he WDC, he looked inferior to Rosberg.

          It’s as though people want to believe that Rosberg suddenly improved his performance at the end of last year as soon as the title was lost. Why would that happen? It makes no sense!

          1. @petebaldwin

            FP2 on the first day back in wet conditions and a small shunt (not heavy enough that he couldn’t get back on the track to limp back to the pits if the FIA had let him) and it’s proof Rosberg’s not on pace?

            Alrighty.

            (that’s not to say Rosberg will be a match for Hamilton this year – but it’s not like Hamilton is pulling out that extra 10% in a wet FP2.)

          2. And again though @petebaldwin it wasn’t just after LH won the WDC that NR found pace…he got the last 6 poles. It’s not like NR has ever been far behind, and as we were made well aware by LH once he was the one trailing NR, you can’t pass in dirty air in an equal car. So let’s give NR some credit for being closer to LH than it appeared last season, and hope, vainly I expect, that the dirty air effect will have decreased a bit this year, although I don’t know that we have reason to expect that unless the tires can help a bit.

            Besides, Merc being the dominant team, and NR getting 6 poles and winning the last 3 races…why wouldn’t the potential of newfound form for NR be a topic? Doesn’t mean it’s the case but it certainly was going to unavoidably be a debate in the off-season.

            Also, if you are saying LH is only fast when his head is in the right place, then aren’t you contributing to the debate favouring NR taking it to a ‘proven’ inconsistent LH?

            Personally I think we just have to see 21 races this season and then we’ll know where they stand.

    2. @bascb

      Off course in effect both drivers had roughly the same amount of running today, but the mind doesn’t see it that way. Hamilton will be satisfied both from putting it on top AND from his teammate meeting the wall and denting his confidence.

      The exact same thing happened at USA 2015. Hamilton was fastest in all practice sessions and Rosberg crashed out in FP2. Sky F1 could not get enough of praising Hamilton. Then when Rosberg actually got going, Hamilton didn’t look so fast anymore.

      Let’s take it easy here, it’s only Friday.

      1. larry onyekwere
        18th March 2016, 16:55

        so who later won the 2015 US GP? Rosberg?

  2. Why is it called Red Bull-TAG Heuer?

    1. Where have you been? You might want to go back a couple months and look up the new article here about it. OR just google search it to find out…

      1. News article*

      2. Willem Cecchi (@)
        18th March 2016, 7:54

        Or Himmat can ask his F1 community about it and not get abused.

        1. ColdFly F1 (@)
          18th March 2016, 8:47

          @willemcecchi, I agree that abuse should not happen on this site.
          But one could expect commenters to at least make some effort (e.g. use search function of this site) before asking such questions.

          The best ‘help’ for Himmat is probably providing the link as @m4rk did below.

    2. It’s a Renault engine, just rebranded as TAG Heuer because Red Bull and Renault don’t like each other any more.

  3. Melchior (@)
    18th March 2016, 7:53

    I can’t say as i like the “New” sound of the cars.
    They sound like tractors.

    1. Ha ha, did you go trackside or did you watch on TV ?

    2. Did anyone notice the McLaren?
      Sounds like they are spooling the turbine with fuel. Any explanation?

      1. From what I’ve read most technical analysis attribute this to cylinder deactivation when off throttle.

        They were playing around with it in pre-season testing, on Barcelona test 2 (day 3 I think) it sounded a lot better. No sure what they ended up with in the FP but in the other tests it does sound very rough off throttle.

        1. Cylinder deactivation when off throttle is completely useless, even in road cars letting off the throttle shuts off fuel injection…. It has to be during a time when acceleration is not needed but the driver is still on the throttle.

          1. Cylinder deactivation when off throttle has its uses. It reduces overall fuel consumption, but more importantly it stops the engine overheating when stationary (in pits or on grid) or moving slowly (behind safety car or on parade lap).

    3. Chris (@tophercheese21)
      18th March 2016, 8:44

      I thought it was interesting to hear Ted Kravitz mention that these new engines are producing a very similar decibel level to the V8’s, it’s just that the tone is lower, thus making them seem quieter.

      I’m still yet to hear these things in the flesh, and probably won’t until the 2017 Aus GP, but from the TV coverage today they sounded great IMO. I’ve never understood the hatred towards the ‘new’ sound. It’s not as screamy, but it’s still very impressive.

      1. I was at Monza last year. I liked the tone although it was a bit dimmed. You get used to it very quick.
        The screamers of GP2 suddenly sounded old fashioned – which in fact they are.

        @alanore whats the purpose of cylinder deactivation off throttle. What do they actually deactivate?

        1. Saving fuel if I remember correctly.

          1. Can’t save more fuel than when you’re off throttle.. The cylinder deactivation has to be at some other time.

      2. I never got to see the old v8s or v10s in person but the v6s do sound pretty impressive. I’ve always been a fan of turbo whine so to hear these car have it combined with the exhaust sounds great! My girl never understood why I would always break my neck when I heard a turbo from a car/van/bus/lorry on the street but after we went to the Canadian GP it all became clear lol

      3. Michael Brown
        18th March 2016, 15:33

        2014 and 2015 coverage didn’t do the engine sounds justice. From what I’ve heard in just the FP2 broadcast it’s actually pretty good.

  4. Only thing these fp can tell is is who has good aero: Mercedes, FI, RB, Toro and Ferrarri
    But McLaren has a not bad aero either so lets hope it raining light whole weekend!

    1. fuel, engine settings, checking loadings at a set pace………………these time are irrelevant, Perez was on for a lap 1.5 seconds clear of the field before it rained in sector 3 and from that I can say these times mean nothing. Today was just a chance to see the cars running for the fans and nothing else.

      1. Though at one time you’ll want to try a timed lap for sure.
        So they can mean something.

        1. True for FP sessions generally however I took the original comment to mean something can be taken from todays FP sessions which due to the circumstances show absolutely nothing other than us fans can watch the latest cars briefly for the 1st time.

        2. @spoutnik They mean something if you correlate them with conditions which team probably do. But from our point of view, it is very difficult to notice when each driver set his time making it quite irrelevant.

  5. Are those glasses genuine or is it another hipster trend Hammy has taken up?

    1. About as genuine as the pair Sutil is wearing

    2. Must be ‘hip’.
      Racing with glasses seems impossible to me, they would be shaking(?)
      Changing lenses to glasses and back can be done, but as a lens wearer myself, I wouldn’t do that 4 times per day.
      But it could be his desire to be hip which fuels his changing them 4 times.
      We will probably know soon, I can’t imagine nobody will ask about it.

      1. ColdFly F1 (@)
        18th March 2016, 8:52

        If Hamilton wants to be a real hipster then I expect him to drive a fixie come Sunday ;-)

      2. FlyingLobster27
        18th March 2016, 9:30

        @verstappen, Sébastien Bourdais (ex-F1, IndyCar), Thierry Neuville and Jari-Matti Latvala (rally, and that really does shake you about!) race with glasses. Lewis’s are for “fashion” though.

      3. Exactly @verstappen

        I use glasses and contact lenses and honestly I hate both things, but I have to use them, so I really don’t understand this trend.

        I hope this doesn’t grow out of porpotion, otherwise I expect to see people with crutches everywhere.

      4. @royal-spark Ted Kravitz mentioned the glasses in FP1 – Lewis doesn’t need glasses, and Ted even asked once and Lewis said his eyesight was better than 20-20 (LH said it was 40-40, though that’s the same as 20-20 – it’s resolving a letter at 1 minute of arc from 40 feet instead of 20, though at 40 feet, the letter is twice as big. I had to look that info up btw lol).

        So the answer would be that he’s just styling. And good on him for it too.

    3. @royal-spark Definitely photoshop!

      Lewis shaming the entire human race to everything in the known universe, yet again! SCANDALOUS!!!!

      Appalling behavior from someone who should at the very least exceed the standards of the Pope, Moses, Kim Kardashian, Jesus, Mohammed, Gandhi, Buddha & Madonna! What a disgrace!

    4. If Red Bull were planing on having a partnership with Aston Martin (and it has probably been planed a while ago) why not rebrand the engines Aston Martin instead of TAG and have Aston do their own engine development?

      1. @gordess Possibly because Renault don’t like to give their engines, all their development secrets and the credit away to another manufacturer?

      2. Because they’re Renault PU’s that’s why and are homologated as such despite the Tag ‘stickers’ and Aston Martin road cars will soon feature Mercedes motors..

        1. Ralf Schumacher as well but not at the start of his career.

    5. Whilst I don’t know if the glasses are hip or not, I can think of 2 drivers who raced in F1 using glasses, Sebastian Bourdais and Jacques Villenueve. Also it might possibly be because of the screens (but that I doubt).

    6. He is a sharp cookie, with many radio messages banned he will beat Rosberg by using a forbidden setting to boost power and as the team have to use pit boards to tell him to turn it back down he will claim he could not see because he was not wearing his glasses. Great idea.

  6. Just like testing… Unrepresentative times…

    Lets hope we have an unrepresentative race on Sunday.. Riciardo victory followed by Vettel and regen maister Button for first McLaren podium in ages…

    1. they got a double podium exactly 2 years ago so it’s not that long

      1. @papalotis It’s a long time for a team with a rich history like Mclaren.

  7. Hamilton is the most vain person I can remember. I mean, who comes to a press room with 5 kilos of gold chains. Not to mention having a pair of fake glasses on hand while out of the car for a few minutes. I’d understand a fashion statement if he wants to complement a look for some occasion, some party, dinner or whatever, but wearing them around the paddock is ridiculous. It gives a feeling he is obsessed with himself. Which he is. So I guess, it’s kinda expected.

    1. I have a feeling some people are obsessed buy him and feel the need to go on about fashion on a motor racing forum.

      1. There’s a picture of him on top of the article. Kinda hard not to notice.

    2. This society is sick enough, when promoting a visual aid to a fashion complement.

      Take Rosberg´s outfit and compare to Ham….

    3. I actually think what is vain is looking at a racing car driver’s picture on an article about how fast his times were and commenting on what he is wearing.
      That is actually obsession, to use your own words.

  8. Well, this does leave one cautiously optimistic about McLaren’s progress. Force India were strong in the wet last year weren’t they? I’m starting to feel more and more that Toro Rosso will spring a couple of upsets on the big boys this season.

    1. Torro Rosso upsets are starting to be expected which means they would not be upsets. I too feel they may be very good but it has happened before with them that the car looks amazing and they don’t do anything. From todays sessions Sainz did an ok lap but every driver out there was cruising for 6 or 7 laps for some basic data and Verstappen spent the whole of FP2 in the garage.

  9. That is a great picture of Denzel Washington in “Malcom X.”

  10. Keith,
    Why on the result screen, Kimi and 1 other guy had intermediate mark (I) but with different colour (green if not wrong).

    1. Been wondering on this myself! Maybe it’s used vs new tyres?

  11. I am Kind of excited by kimi. I can’t Really remember him looking Good in difficult Weather conditions since he crashed out of hungary 06

    1. And i know It Is just FP, but i mean he Really NEVER locked comfortable in Tricky conditions in recent years

      1. His time is actually quite impressive because he set it while it was still pretty wet on track, whereas Hulk and Hamilton had much much better track conditions.

    2. @mrboerns
      he was a beast at Fuji 2007. 21st to 3rd. China 2007 was also not too shaby. Ever since 2008 however, he has seemingly lost all his talent.

    3. I believe Kimi’s strong point was on the rear tires management ever since I follow him in 2002, and he still strong up to 2013 but then rear brake assist wiped out his talent.
      Offcourse he can adjust but with the age it wont get easier.

  12. The annual Hamilton obsession is here – and as usual, nothing to do with driving. “He’s wearing glasses, the sky will fall in tomorrow!”
    Get a life.

Comments are closed.