Hamilton and Rosberg put Mercedes on top

2014 Australian Grand Prix second practice

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Mercedes took up their expected position at the top of the timing sheets in the second practice session.

Lewis Hamilton, who was forced to sit out the earlier session after his car broke down on its first lap out of the garage, ended Friday on top of the times with a best lap of 1’29.782.

Team mate Nico Rosberg was second having led the session until Hamilton beat his lap of 1’29.625.

As in the first session several drivers experienced car problems and once again the Renault teams were chiefly affected. Neither Caterham driver managed to set a time as Kamui Kobayashi was stuck in the pits with a fuel system problem and Marcus Ericsson had a hydraulic failure on his out-lap.

Pastor Maldonado also spent the session in the garage after more problems with his Lotus. Team mate Romain Grosjean did make it onto the track, unlike in the first session.

But his day ended when his car lurched left under braking at turn six, almost hitting the barrier, and leaving him stuck in a gravel trap. “Something strange on the braking,” he reported on the radio.

At almost the same time two corners later Nico Hulkenberg spun his Force India into a gravel trap. The team’s returning driver had run onto the grass in the braking area, provoking the spin.

Having been fastest in the first practice session Fernando Alonso took third behind the two Mercedes.

The two Red Bulls were fourth and sixth, Sebastian Vettel ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, giving them further cause for encouragement after their pre-season problems. Jenson Button’s McLaren separated the pair.

Pos.No.DriverCarBest lapGapLaps
144Lewis HamiltonMercedes1’29.62537
26Nico RosbergMercedes1’29.7820.15731
314Fernando AlonsoFerrari1’30.1320.50728
41Sebastian VettelRed Bull-Renault1’30.3810.75641
522Jenson ButtonMcLaren-Mercedes1’30.5100.88533
63Daniel RicciardoRed Bull-Renault1’30.5380.91338
77Kimi RaikkonenFerrari1’30.8981.27332
877Valtteri BottasWilliams-Mercedes1’30.9201.29538
920Kevin MagnussenMcLaren-Mercedes1’31.0311.40634
1027Nico HulkenbergForce India-Mercedes1’31.0541.42933
1125Jean-Eric VergneToro Rosso-Renault1’31.0601.43535
1219Felipe MassaWilliams-Mercedes1’31.1191.49431
1311Sergio PerezForce India-Mercedes1’31.2831.65836
1499Adrian SutilSauber-Ferrari1’32.3552.73036
1521Esteban GutierrezSauber-Ferrari1’32.4682.84326
1626Daniil KvyatToro Rosso-Renault1’32.4952.87038
1717Jules BianchiMarussia-Ferrari1’33.4863.86129
188Romain GrosjeanLotus-Renault1’33.6464.02112
194Max ChiltonMarussia-Ferrari1’34.7575.13229
209Marcus EricssonCaterham-Renault1
2110Kamui KobayashiCaterham-Renault0
2213Pastor MaldonadoLotus-Renault0

Image © Daimler/Hoch Zwei

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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...

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118 comments on “Hamilton and Rosberg put Mercedes on top”

  1. So finally we are getting the true picture.Mercedes look like the fastest car followed my ferrari and mclaren,but red bull did nt look like they too far off the pace if they get there reliability issues sorted out i wont be surprised that bulls turns out to be the fastest

    1. Yeah so much for all the extreme speculation about Mercedes reigning supreme and RB nosediving. At this stage it doesn’t seem like that much of a shake up of the pecking order.

      1. @bazza-spock

        At this stage it doesn’t seem like that much of a shake up of the pecking order.

        Apart from Lotus and Williams trading spots.

        1. Chris (@tophercheese21)
          14th March 2014, 8:21

          “The Maldonado Effect”

          1. Hahaha! Brilliant

      2. They might still be sandbagging. Not that I know why they would, besides avoiding stressing components more than necessary.

    2. I would put RB ahead of Ferrari. Also noted, given the reliability of the RB cars, that indeed you should never read to much into anything that RB team communicates to the outside – very seldom they will give you the true picture.

      1. Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
        14th March 2014, 8:05

        People thought that RB wouldn’t be strong, they are. Sorry to disappoint everyone but prepare for RB domination :-)

        1. We will see about that ! ;-) . Not yet .

      2. Guess who will be collecting 50 pts. for one race!

    3. @smokinjoe For me, true picture would be after Spa

      1. @onebhk I agree with you that true picture will emerge after Spa. But when you look at the testing its look like RBR will be struggling to break into top 10 and with all the reliability issues finishing the race looks like a long shot, RBR is still not at the sharp end of the grid by their standard but vettel doing more laps then anyone in FP2 and in fourth place looks like nothing short of miracle considering vettel did nt make it pass the pit lane in Bahrain on some days

    4. The Blade Runner (@)
      14th March 2014, 8:33

      Hmmm… Maybe on one lap pace but the consesus in the paddock appears to be that the Ferrari is heavy on fuel which will affect race-pace.

      1. @bladerunner Frankly speaking, not so much in the paddock as this website.

      2. @thebladerunner, consensus equals speculation equals rumour, the consensus was that Renault engined cars wouldn’t get out of the pits.

        1. @hohum,

          which was 50 percent correct when looking at Lotus and Caterham.

          But as Hamilton showed in FP1, even the most reliable car can stop on the first lap. (Yes, it was a sensor, but a failure that would end a race nonetheless).

          At the checkered flag on Sunday, it’s still a crapshoot I think.

          1. @uan, no argument there.

    5. you’re missing williams from your comment

  2. can’t wait for qualy and race to see what’s really going on.

    1. on another note – glad the RBR domination is on hiatus and Ferrari isn’t miles ahead. just hope that Mercedes doesn’t just become the new dominator, but HAM and ROS seem to be evenly matched to have a good season anyway.

      1. @tmf42

        and Ferrari isn’t miles ahead

        This is 2014, not 2004.

    2. @tmf42 : The showers might dampen your enthusiasm

  3. As expected, the pecking order will not come out until end of the race on Sunday! I am disappointed with what FI has achieved, but lets wait and watch :)

    1. @hemzshaw That will depend, if mercedes sensors stop the engine like today, it could be another disaster, not to mention the freak weather

      1. @onebhk with wet weather, am sure hulk will come on top of his current level – he is good at that. But the sensor scare, or for that matter any other component should work just right till end of the race.

  4. Feel really sorry for Caterham today :(

    1. Yes, it is ironic that they being the only Renault team to run well in testing, have been hampered by these gremlins now. :(

    2. When did we start feeling sorry for the backmarkers..

      1. Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
        14th March 2014, 8:13

        Marussia have done well. Looks to be a difficult year for Lotus ahead, I wouldn’t be surprised if they are bought out before the end of the year.

        1. Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
          14th March 2014, 8:17

          Williams have disappointed me, they were 2nd fastest in pre season but look like the 5th fastest at the moment.

          1. Exactly what I feel for Williams. They looked very close to Mercedes in pre season testing and now are looking like 5th fastest team. Are they sand bagging on one lap pace because I saw few laps of both Massa and Bottas in mid 34’s during later half of FP2 which was near about what Mercs were doing at that stage.

          2. As they say, the race lap would tell a different story than test/practice. So do not feel disappointed just yet :)

      2. For most people, since they joined the sport.

  5. Ok..Merc on top, not a surprise..still not sold on Ferrari’s pace.

    Why is Kimi so far behind?

    1. I’d been asking this for years. “Why is KimiMassa so far behind?”

    2. because Ferrari has Alo in the other car…

    3. Because he’s not as good as Fernando Alonso

    4. First Kimi needs to better his attitude and his speaking skills, the laptimes can be improved later…

      1. haha! you are just not the one who likes his rants :D

      2. He’s not employed for speaking skills.

        Like picking a number for his car is for him a non issue, nothing wrong with that.

    5. Different wings, Alonso (new), Kimi (old)..but for different tyre strategy, Alonso (3 stop), Kimi (2 stop)..and for different fuel strategy, Alonso (DNF), Kimi (Finish).
      See..Kimi is Finish! Lol

      1. And as Ron always said, ” to finish first, first you have…….”

    6. haven’t u seen massa during the last 4 years with alonso?
      do you need some more explications?
      I think it’s far too obvious.
      alonso has a contract as a number 1 driver because there are come commercial and sponsor reason behind it.
      the other one should be number 2: did 1/3 of alonso’s laps in the winter tests, his car is very nervous and seems like it doesn’t suit his driving style at all, got one of the biggest gaps between teammates (0.8 between raikkonen and alonso . rookie magnussen got a smallest gap from button and he’s only a rookie! I don’t know if you get the difference).
      case closed, but if you don’t trust me, you’ll see in the following races.
      raikkonen’s career is finished the day he (re)signed with ferrari and 90% he signed to be number 2.
      don’t know why he chose to come back there, instead of looking for other opportunities. probably he likes being humiliated by a driver who, looking back at last 10 years, is not far better than him. probably he prefers money to dignity.

  6. Fikri Harish (@)
    14th March 2014, 7:17

    Did I hear it right when Crofty said that Alonso’s time fell into the 1.36s by the end of his stint?
    Please tell me I was mistaken or that it was beacuse of traffic and not fuel management.

    1. it is true, his time fell to 1.35s something by the end of the FP2

    2. I am skeptical about that fuel guzzling Ferrari

    3. @fihar At the end of FP2 when teams had pushed the softer tyres beyond the cliff, cars were struggling to stay on the track. I was between turns 3 & 4 and every car at the end of their stint on soft tyres were squirming on braking and acceleration, and by a large margin, from RBR, Merc, Ferrari right through to the Marussia’s and Toro Rosso’s. So I wouldn’t read too much into Alonso’s times falling off, he just hit the end of life of the tyres.

  7. Expectations are high for the Australian GP 2014 with unpredictability the word circulating amongst the fans and the paddock alike. It might turn out to be the best Australian GP in years but I personally have reservations after the watching the 2 practice sessions.

    It depends on what one defines as ‘exciting’. If exciting means cars not going out at all in 3 hours worth of practice or cars struggling with brake-by-wire systems or cars saving fuel to complete a few target laps within the planned fuel consumptions or cars braking down on track or cars not running at full power due to the scare of having further troubles or teams planning not to risk running in practice 3 then one might enjoy the whole weekend.

    For me excitement would be when cars are able to fire up their engine in 3 hours worth of practice, drivers struggling on exits (like some did), able to run in all sessions and are able to compete in a race with screaming engine noises. Rewind to the Australian GP 2010 and you would enjoy the race thoroughly.

    It’s completely understandable that for teams, new rules are a huge challenge but after watching the 2 sessions, I have developed a sense of fear and pessimism that the GP might turn out to be farcical.

    I hope I am jumping the gun too soon but it’s my personal fear that it might not be very enjoyable although we might only see half a dozen cars finish

    1. Based on the two FPs that we saw, I think of cars that wont start rather than those which wont finish. Of course apart from driver errors forcing cars off the race.

  8. Pretty much what everyone expected eh? If these times are representative, and they may well be not.

    Keith, I think you mixed up Rosberg’s and Hamilton’s in the second and third paragraph.

    1. *Rosberg’s and Hamilton’s times

    2. I wouldn’t put a dime on those “Tyre-Eating-Mercs”

  9. Very glad to see that RBR have managed to make some progress since the last test. Could a podium be a possibility? Ferrari look quick over a single lap but their race pace wasn’t great, so they may qualify well but go backwards through the race.

    Still, Mercedes look pretty unstoppable at the moment. They want to capitalise on that advantage while it lasts.

    1. RBR still have their issues, believe me.. Once the lights go out the BS stops

  10. Mercedes have a history of sandbagging in practice. I remember how in 2013, they were apparently “struggling” in Bahrain, Spain, Germany, and Belgium; yet still took pole. This makes their pace in FP2 even more frightening.

  11. I just can’t wait to see how the quali and race unfold.. Btw, I am eager to see the long run analysis from @Keithcollantine to get a good understanding of the race pace pecking order this weekend.

    1. Have you considered a wet quali/race

  12. Well, it’s great to watch Formula 1 again. But I am not happy with the sound on TV. I hear only commentators. Even at the end of the practice when everyone was on track it’s too quiet.
    Happy to see that Ferrari is not that far behind. Something wrong with Kimi’s car which is really bad. Expected more pace from Williams.

    PS: when I told my mother that Hulkenberg is becoming very good racer he just went off the track. Sorry, Nico, I didn’t mean to hoodoo you)

    1. Sorry, Nico, I didn’t mean to hoodoo you)

      haha.. that was a mistake breaking on the grass

      1. A classic Albert Park mistake

        1. was that a BBW issue?

          1. Chris (@tophercheese21)
            14th March 2014, 8:30

            Somehow I don’t think applying the brakes whilst on the grass is anything to do with the BBW system, lol. Just simple driver error. There’s always a few who play ‘chicken’ with the grass boundaries of the track.

          2. graham221228
            14th March 2014, 8:40

            was that a BBW issue?

            That’s an unfortunate acronym.

          3. whats BBW anyway?

          4. @hemzshaw, BBW is Brake By Wire in F1 context :P

          5. thanks for the confirmation @mjf1fan i pretty much had figured it out already…. :)

          6. Search it and find out. Although probably don’t.

  13. It doesn’t even matter who will be on pole tomorrow. We still don’t know which car is the one that take care of the tires the better and which engine has the better fuel consumption. It could be the Ferrari or even the red ill. Also Alonso was just 4 tenths behind the Mercedes yet alonso was the only in the top 10 who did the fewer laps. So I don’t think mercedez are the fastest because Alonso was pretty consistent. Fastest in fp1 and third in p2. Last but not least the red bull are there probably they are the third best team but with newey and the amount of development they have done in the past plus all the time they will get to know the car in each race I think and unfortunately that the red ill will be the fastest in a matter of days. Also and according to button that car is the best in the curves.

  14. I think for a team whose chances were written of before the season started Red Bull is doing rather well. If they recovered from hopeless to be among the front runners in just two weeks Think where they going to be say in a months time

    1. As I said, I will wait till Spa for the final pecking order

  15. I enjoyed the Red Bull camera solution. I expected them to do something clever as they did not show what they were doing at the tests, but like everybody, I was thinking more along the lines of fancy wings.

    1. I also heard it, but didn’t catch a glimpse. Does anyone have some images here??

  16. Disappointed with the new sound of “F1”. We have gone from sound of roaring lions to sound of domestic cats. Listening at the sound in onboard footage…a joke.

    1. I was waiting when people are going to admit that these V6s sound horrible…

    2. Seriously? There are so many things wrong with F1, amount of teams, amount of engine manufacturers, double points, drs, and you complain about the sound?

    3. Yeah the sounds is definitely underwelming . I do miss the scream of the v8s and I even enjoyed the dirty burbling from the exhaust blowing days. I suppose the v6 formula is really the future, I’m just glad that we didn’t end up with 4 cylinders this season.

    4. It’s different, that’s all, get over it.

      1. Oh really? Thanks for that enlightening clarification, genius!

  17. Having watched the session this is what I see:

    Mercedes look incredibly quick without actually looking like they were trying. When Hamilton came round the last 3 turns on his flying lap I actually initially thought he was on a slow lap. He wasn’t using all of the track.

    Red Bull look quick, but also looked like they were wringing everything out of the car. Both drivers went off track multiple times, or started sliding.

    Ferrari were similar to the Mercedes, just 0.5seconds slower on both low fuel and the race simulation runs.

    Williams were about 1 second off the Mercedes

    Looking forward to a full breakdown of long run times. I didn’t see much for them, other than the first few laps where Mercedes looked 0.5 – 1 second faster than anyone else.

    Assuming no reliability problems it will be a Mercedes 1-2, followed by a Red Bull 3-4 IMO.

    1. RBR are still conducting a belated preseason test with new parts and all, so don’t read much into their car’s handling.

    2. What ! no love for Jenson.

  18. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    14th March 2014, 8:00

    Mercedes look good. Both on the time sheets, and with the way their car handles on track.

    Hoping for a Merc 1-2 :D Go Lewis!

    1. @tophercheese21 : Why not “Go Nico!” ?

      1. Chris (@tophercheese21)
        14th March 2014, 8:08

        Because I don’t support Nico. I like him, just don’t support him on track.

        1. Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
          14th March 2014, 8:16

          I do!

          @onebk

          Go Nico!!!

          Seriously though, Nico really needs to get his game on this year, he knows that this is the best opportunity he has (or maybe ever) to get a F1 WDC.

          1. the same thing was told last year as well! NicoR needs to get his deserving one this time. I am not a Hamilton fan, though I have met him personally and have spoken to him.

        2. Me too, I support Nico..

      2. It’s Lewis’ so 2nd year on the car, meaning he’s more comfortable.

        Plus the car is harder to drive.

  19. JP (@jonathanproc)
    14th March 2014, 8:00

    “But [Grosjean’s] day ended when his car lurched left under braking at turn six, almost hitting the barrier, and leaving him stuck in a gravel trap. ”

    I’m pretty sure he did hit the barrier. The left-rear suspension appeared to be broken before he entered the gravel.

    1. He did. Strange accident, perhaps the BBW not working well.

    2. I am not surprised Nutcase crashing

  20. Engines are not even revving to the max and we are already concluding.
    I see RBR as a good bet for the win this weekend, they’ve only been slow because they were asked to run slow.
    Mclaren also seem to be very fast.

    1. They will not rev to maximum as it doesn’t make sense to go much above 10,000 rpm as fuel flow is limited anyway.

  21. Its heartening to see Redbull finally managing the laps… They have done the maximum number of laps by any team in both the FPs… a total of 115 laps

    1. They’re not just managing laps, the car looks very fast.

  22. i have to say the cars look stupid with those crazy looking noses,
    but the cars in general with less down force more power coming out of the corners makes for better drivers to shine,
    i dont like Vettel but was impressed with his driving skills, how he managed to slid in and out of corners was a delight to watch,
    maybe now that he has to drive the pants off that car i can appreciate his driving skills more,
    very impressed with Alonso, Kimi will definitely be number 2,
    Ham/Rosberg, with no break downs should walk away with this first race, and that will make my day,
    Button is out shinning his partner and putting up decent times, he might even come home with a podium,
    all round no one has really run away with it and the racing should be exciting enough to keep me on the edge of my seat.
    well done F1, new concept is the way of the future whether we like it or not, but please fix that disgusting nose.

    1. The Williams doesn’t look that great on track… Too much white, the Martini effect hardly shows…

      1. +1
        It looked better in pictures.
        It’s no longer my number1 in terms of looks.

    2. Many of the cars do indeed look silly (Force India, Toro Rosso and Caterham in particular).
      The FIA is to address this issue for 2015, thankfully. And Caterham will go with a Lotus-style nose, which I think looks fine, in a few races’ time.

    3. Button out shinning his partner

      First practice for Magnussen ever, first time on this track, a rookie, 15’th time for Button on this track and 0.5 sec between them, that’s not “out shinning” in my book.
      He will catch up soon.

      1. Yes and when Hamilton is vs Alonso he is straight on his pace if not faster. I find it embarrasing if Magnusen does not beat Button in qually 1st race or 20th race sure their will be 4 to 5 ties JB does better just like with Lewis but i repeat go smooth has1 pole 1 pole lol in Mclaren that is bad

  23. Any site/online resources where you can have a look at different drivers’ stints?
    The information about fastest in practice sessions is not always the most relevant…

    1. Wait for sometime as Keith will publish an article showing the longest stints of each driver and then you can get more information.

    2. You should find them here

      Looking at the FP2 stints you can see most drivers only tried one flying lap. When it comes to long stints Red Bull clearly in a good shape if their package just stays together. Mercedes looks very, very quick on long runs. And with Ferrari Alonso was lapping 2 secs quicker than Kimi on long runs, surely they must drive with different setups or then they are just hiding something.. or they did the stints with different tires. Also Alonso on long runs is still almost 2 secs behind Mercedes. Other teams on the mix as well so anything can still happen but it still looks like Mercedes leading the field. After Mercedes the order is unknown.

      1. Thanks for that link. Very good long run from Bottas too, similar speed to Red Bull and quicker than the Ferraris or McLarens, but as you say a bit off the Mercedes pace.

        1. Same if you look at Perez times. 1:34’s

      2. Looking at the long runs, Perez and Bottas delivered consistently times in the 1:34’s, ahead of the RB’s and Macca’s.

  24. @keithcollantine
    the times are the wrong way wrong in the article:
    ‘(Hamilton) ended Friday on top of the times with a best lap of 1’29.782.

    Team mate Nico Rosberg was second having led the session until Hamilton beat his lap of 1’29.625.’

  25. Think RB may possibly suffer over full race distance as they will be racing in unknown territory, Mercs quick but possible reliability issues & fully expect JB in the Mclaren to dial in to more speed as weekend progresses, they are suposedly testing the new parts not delivered in pre season testing so as they gain understanding he will get faster, with possible difficult weather conditions he may well be the one to watch….and I like the new interim Mobil 1 MP4-29 livery

  26. Last year Vettel did a 1:25.9 in FP2, with Hamilton managing a 1:29.6 today.
    That’s probably not a bad indication of the difference in race pace we are going to see. Will be difficult to compare qualifying, wasn’t last year’s qualifying on a damp cold track?

  27. Mclaren_Mircea
    14th March 2014, 13:58

    There are rumours that Jenson Button’s time in FP2 was set on medium tyres not on soft tyres, like the others.

  28. Michael Brown
    14th March 2014, 15:36

    Since fuel flow is limited a certain amount at 10,500 RPM and up, is there any reason to rev higher than that?

  29. Something I have been observing : At the exit of T12, the Ferraris and Mercs go crisply through, using just a little bit of the exit curb while the RBRs go deep into the exit, way past the exit curb into the green patch.
    And yes, this is the old shreyasf1fan! Hello everyone!

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