World champion Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets for Mercedes in both practice sessions of the Australian Grand Prix yesterday, but the wet conditions put a dampener on Formula One’s season opener.
With intermittent showers blighting the day, the teams head into the race weekend short of set-up work and lacking valuable data on their tires, meaning qualifying could be a lottery.
Hamilton, bidding for a third successive title with Mercedes, posted a lap of 1 minute, 29.725 seconds in the opening session, more than 0.4 seconds quicker than Red Bull’s Daniil Kvyat.
Photo: AP
However, the Briton could manage only 1 minute, 38.841 seconds in the rain-delayed second session.
He was about half a second faster than Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg, with Ferrari’s former world champion Kimi Raikkonen third-quickest in the second session.
Nico Rosberg, who won the final three races of last season, had a day to forget.
After posting the sixth-fastest lap in the opening session, he skidded at turn six in the later practice and damaged his front wing in a collision with the barrier.
The German rolled slowly around the track for a few moments before being called to stop, as Mercedes motorsport boss Toto Wolff glared at a television screen.
Red Bull had a better day, with Kvyat’s Australian teammate Daniel Ricciardo third behind the Russian in the initial run and fourth-quickest in the later session.
Four-time champion Sebastian Vettel, tipped to threaten Hamilton’s ambitions of a fourth title overall, was eighth quickest in the second session after failing to post a time in the first as gusty winds buffeted the street circuit.
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