McLaren Mercedes - Australian GP - Free Practice

Heikki Kovalainen finished the second practice session 17th in his McLaren Mercedes after setting the fifth best time in the first session.

Last year's Australian Grand Prix winner Lewis Hamilton was 16th and 18th in the second MP4-24.

Along with many of its rivals, the team worked on aero and mechanical set-up, prime and option tyre evaluation and tyre degradation analysis over a long stint.
Lewis Hamilton
P1 programme: “The first session didn’t prove too productive for us,” said Lewis. “We worked hard to get the prime tyres to operate effectively, but the track conditions and our set-up made it difficult to get them to work, and it didn’t give me the confidence to push hard.”

P2 programme: “The changes we made after P1 made the car feel much better.
We’re still working to refine the balance – and we have a number of issues still to address – but we are heading in the right direction.”
Heikki Kovalainen
P1 programme: “Although the track was very green and slippery, the car felt good from the start of the session,” said Heikki. “Our balance was good, particularly in the high-speed corners, and KERS deployed well, working smoothly throughout both sessions.”

P2 programme: “A reasonable first day – even if the times don’t properly reflect that. We saw some decent pace and made some progress which was pleasing for the new guys on my car this year.”
Martin Whitmarsh, Team Principal
“We arrived in Australia fully aware that we’d be facing a tough start to the season. But we adhered to a disciplined programme today, focusing on tyre durability work, and weren’t swayed by a desire to post flattering times."

"Equally, we’re now focusing on implementing the performance steps we’ve planned for the next few races. Overall, then, we’ve made good progress recently but are well aware that we’ve still got a lot of work to do.”
Norbert Haug, VP Mercedes-Benz Motorsport
“After the winter tests, we knew that we would have a difficult start into the season. While our car has improved since the Barcelona test, we still have a lot of work to do.”