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Lewis Hamilton continued his fast Friday form by topping the second practice session in Melbourne. Despite holding a hefty lead following the first ninety minutes of running this morning, the gap closed up considerably in the afternoon session.
Hamilton's fastest time was a 1:23.931 on the ultra soft tyre, while Red Bull's Max Verstappen sat just over a tenth of a second behind. The third spot was filled by Valtteri Bottas, with his compatriot Kimi Raikkonen following close behind.
The drivers struggled in the early parts of the session, with plenty of them taking to the grass. In one incident, Bottas was distracted by Raikkonen heading into Turn 3 and took evasive action into the gravel, before going off on his own later on his the session.
Sebastian Vettel set the fifth fastest time, while Romain Grosjean kept Haas' optimism up by ending the day in sixth place. The second Red Bull of Daniel Ricciardo followed the Frenchman, ending Friday running in seventh.
After missing out on running in the first practice session, Fernando Alonso was eighth fastest, with his teammate Stoffel Vandoorne rounding out the top ten. Sandwiched between the two papaya-coloured cars in P9 was Kevin Magnussen.
Carlos Sainz finished just outside the top ten in eleventh, ahead of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg. Lance Stroll followed the German, meaning only three and a half tenths of a second separated Alonso in eighth and Stroll in fourteenth.
Esteban Ocon was fifteenth, leading the Toro Rosso pair of Brendon Hartley and Pierre Gasly. Sergey Sirotkin followed in eighteenth, while Sauber's Marcus Ericsson and Charles Leclerc rounding out the field, a gap of one-thousand of a second separating the duo.
There was a brief red flag during the session, as a wire came loose on the start-finish line. However, it was quickly cut away and running was only delayed by a short number of minutes.
Fergal Walsh
Albert Park - 23 March 2018
974 members have this team as their favourite
Replies (4)
Login to replyPauli
Posts: 140
They were slower than last year in FP1&2! Is that from monkey seat ban and reduced shark fin? Is weather worse (lower pressure or temperature have impact)? Are teams are running lower engine power mode in practice?
But at least it appears that top of midfield is much closer to top 3. Difference is about same what RB had to Ferrari and Mercedes in the begin of last year. But at bottom Sauber looks very disappointing. They seem to be only midfield team that didn't manage to make clear improvement to their car.
But this is still pure speculation and we have to wait for qualification results to see actual preformance of cars.
f1fan0101
Posts: 1,804
Tyres, improved aero and engine power will contribute to faster times
calle.itw
Posts: 8,527
I think they will run lower engine modes this year period. With so few engine parts, something is bound to be reduced. But they should still be faster compared to last year. Maybe weight from the halo also play into it..
Rick F1
Posts: 1,883
Top 3 teams, best times per tyre:
— Ultrasoft —
1.23.931 HAM
1.24.058 VER
1.24.159 BOT
1.24.214 RAI
1.24.451 VET
— Supersoft —
1.24.385 HAM
1.24.848 RAI
— Soft —
1.24.401 VER
1.24.719 BOT
1.24.721 RIC
1.25.513 VET