Hamilton leads Mercedes 1-2 in final F1 practice
Lewis Hamilton loves driving the fastest car in F1 |
Using the superior Mercedes handling and power, Lewis Hamilton edged out teammate Nico Rosberg in final practice for the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix with Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel only two tenths off the pace.
Mercedes used the super-soft tires for the first time this year, with Hamilton clocking a 1m25.624s, 0.176s ahead of Rosberg.
Toro Rosso's Carlos Sainz Jr, running a 2015-spec Ferrari engine, split the Ferraris on the super-softs to go fourth quickest, 0.633s adrift of Hamilton and two tenths clear of Kimi Raikkonen.
The other Toro Rosso of Max Verstappen was sixth, ahead of the Williams of Valtteri Bottas and Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.
F1 rookie ride-buyer Rio Haryanto and Romain Grosjean collided in the pitlane early in the session when they were both released at the same time.
Results
Pos | Driver | Car/Engine | Time | Gap | Laps |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes/Mercedes | 1m25.624s | 0.000s | 24 |
2 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes/Mercedes | 1m25.800s | 0.176s | 25 |
3 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari/Ferrari | 1m25.852s | 0.228s | 25 |
4 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1m26.257s | 0.633s | 28 |
5 | Kimi Raikkonen | Ferrari/Ferrari | 1m26.435s | 0.811s | 23 |
6 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso/Ferrari | 1m26.701s | 1.077s | 26 |
7 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams/Mercedes | 1m26.730s | 1.106s | 28 |
8 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull/TAG Heuer | 1m26.768s | 1.144s | 22 |
9 | Felipe Massa | Williams/Mercedes | 1m27.151s | 1.527s | 28 |
10 | Sergio Perez | Force India/Mercedes | 1m27.242s | 1.618s | 22 |
11 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren/Honda | 1m27.263s | 1.639s | 20 |
12 | Jenson Button | McLaren/Honda | 1m27.341s | 1.717s | 20 |
13 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull/TAG Heuer | 1m27.430s | 1.806s | 22 |
14 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m27.659s | 2.035s | 26 |
15 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault/Renault | 1m27.871s | 2.247s | 24 |
16 | Nico Hulkenberg | Force India/Mercedes | 1m27.988s | 2.364s | 22 |
17 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault/Renault | 1m28.117s | 2.493s | 24 |
18 | Esteban Gutierrez | Haas/Ferrari | 1m28.284s | 2.660s | 21 |
19 | Romain Grosjean | Haas/Ferrari | 1m28.292s | 2.668s | 11 |
20 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber/Ferrari | 1m28.293s | 2.669s | 26 |
21 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor/Mercedes | 1m29.046s | 3.422s | 18 |
22 | Rio Haryanto | Manor/Mercedes | 1m29.272s | 3.648s | 23 |