Lewis Hamilton began the 2016 season on top of the times sheets as occasional showers kept drivers on their toes during the first practice session for the Australian Grand Prix.
The Mercedes driver exploited one of the best opportunities to set a time on dry-weather tyres to set a 1’29.725. The less than ideal conditions meant lap times were slightly down on the same session from 12 months earlier.
Team mate Nico Rosberg ended the session two second adrift with four cars separating him from his team mate. The two Red Bull drivers were closest to Hamilton, Daniiil Kvyat the only driver to get within half a second of the number 44 car.
Daniel Ricciardo was third fastest but ended the session in the gravel trap at turn 12 after another late rain shower. The slippery track also caught out Valtteri Bottas and Rio Haryanto, though both were able to continue.
Sebastian Vettel, who was the first driver to take to the track when the session began, aborted his final attempt to set a time when the conditions deteriorated. He therefore failed to set a time as did Toro Rosso’s Carlos Sainz Jnr, who was delayed by a technical problem during the session.
The team’s other car appeared inside the top five courtesy of Max Verstappen, who was three-tenths of a second off Nico Hulkenerg.
The top ten was completed by the McLaren pair plus the second Force India of Sergio Perez and Kevin Magnussen’s Renault.
First practice visual gaps
Lewis Hamilton – 1’29.725
+0.421 Daniil Kvyat – 1’30.146
+1.150 Daniel Ricciardo – 1’30.875
+1.600 Nico Hulkenberg – 1’31.325
+1.995 Max Verstappen – 1’31.720
+2.089 Nico Rosberg – 1’31.814
+3.335 Fernando Alonso – 1’33.060
+3.645 Sergio Perez – 1’33.370
+4.335 Kevin Magnussen – 1’34.060
+4.825 Valtteri Bottas – 1’34.550
+4.954 Felipe Massa – 1’34.679
+5.071 Felipe Nasr – 1’34.796
+5.752 Jolyon Palmer – 1’35.477
+8.231 Marcus Ericsson – 1’37.956
Drivers more then ten seconds off the pace omitted.
2016 Australian Grand Prix
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- 2016 Australian Grand Prix team radio transcript
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Jay Menon (@jaymenon10)
18th March 2016, 3:18
Early days yet, in addition to being a wet session…the Mclarens arent looking too bad.
Cant wait for Qualy.
Alex
18th March 2016, 3:26
3s off the pace… About where they were last year
Chinmay
18th March 2016, 4:51
The Hondas are looking very very bad. Wait for FP2, you will believe it.
x303 (@x303)
18th March 2016, 8:07
There are so many cars behind them. You mean they all went backwards?
petebaldwin (@)
18th March 2016, 10:08
It was raining. Read the article above – “The Mercedes driver exploited one of the best opportunities to set a time on dry-weather tyres to set a 1’29.725.”
Robert Tang (@robertthespy)
18th March 2016, 4:18
Notice Mercs didn’t run the new nose from last test, and Renault had a new nose on Palmer’s car I think.
…and the Red Bulls and Toro Rossos look so similar from the onboard camera!
Dom (@3dom)
18th March 2016, 16:12
I thought that about the merc nose too @robertthespy
Wonder if it’s because of the deflection test, they hadn’t already passed it before running the wing in testing
Daddy
18th March 2016, 17:48
Ah no, they don’t have any spares. They wouldn’t be allowed to run the wing if it hadn’t passed the tests.
Sonics (@sonicslv)
18th March 2016, 4:32
Does Haryanto goes out at the same time as Wehrlein? 3 seconds off the pace of your teammate is not a good way to start your debut, especially on a team that rarely doing different setup on practice…
Apex Assassin
18th March 2016, 4:57
It was wet and Rio was on full wets and on his other timed lap he went into the gravel trap, unless I’m mistaken.
Todfod (@todfod)
18th March 2016, 5:01
Give him a break. He’s a pay driver
Craig Woollard (@craig-o)
18th March 2016, 5:17
Strictly speaking, both are pay drivers who managed to be outside of 107% of the fastest time ;) @todfod
Srdjan Mandic (@srga91)
18th March 2016, 5:05
If it would’ve been a fully dry session, then yes, definitely something to worry about.
But with conditions this complicated and changing all the time, it doesn’t make much sense to compare times.
I doubt Rio is that much slower than Wehrlein. According to the lap times Rosberg would be 2s slower than Hamilton, which most certainly isn’t the case. Let’s just wait for FP2.
Diego (@ironcito)
18th March 2016, 5:25
FP1 was so chaotic that the times are even less meaningful than those from Barcelona.
Doesn’t look like FP2 will be much better.
Apex Assassin
18th March 2016, 4:58
Gotta say that the RBR livery looks incredible in natural lighting! Def the best livery out there and I’m shocked to be saying that!
reh1v2.0 (@reh1v2-0)
18th March 2016, 21:34
You’re not alone.
Kingshark (@kingshark)
18th March 2016, 5:33
Ferrari 11 seconds off the pace confirmed.
Boomerang
18th March 2016, 7:07
I knew they have got something up their sleeve. 11 seconds is really something mate!