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.”

Toyota - Australian GP - Free Practice

Toyota got the 2009 season under way on a warm and sunny afternoon at Albert Park in Melbourne with free practice for the Australian Grand Prix today.

With air temperatures of 18-19°C and track temperatures of 25-33°C, Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock put the TF109 to the test during two 90-minute practice sessions.

Trulli was the first Toyota driver to hit the track this season, exiting the pits in the first session shortly before Glock and the pair went on to complete a largely trouble-free session of set-up evaluation.

For the second session both drivers had the chance to try out the super soft Bridgestone Potenza tyres in addition to the medium compound experienced earlier in the day, while continuing their mechanical and aerodynamic set-up work. They put in a busy stint and both ended the day in the top six.
Jarno Trulli
"It was a tough day because we covered quite a few laps and had a lot of things to work on. In general we have worked really hard to understand the tyres and find the right set-up, which is not easy. I am still not completely happy with the car balance and, even though when you look at the timing sheets things look pretty good for us, the car isn't completely comfortable to drive. Now we have to work on improving the set-up and the balance for tomorrow when it is most important. Anyway, I have to say it's great to be back at a Grand Prix because I love being behind the wheel with the atmosphere and excitement of a race weekend; this is what I live for."
Timo Glock
"In the end I am satisfied with our day but I have to say the first session went better than the second session for me.
In the first session I had a good feeling from the car and things were running well but then later on I suddenly had a few problems because the car was a bit nervous and didn't feel as stable on the long runs. The behaviour of the car seemed to change between the sessions so we have to look at the data to understand why that happened. So we still have some work to do but that is the purpose of practice and we will work hard on the car set-up before qualifying tomorrow."
Dieter Gass, Chief Engineer Race and Test
"It was a reasonable day for us. The track evolution was different compared to previous years but that was probably connected to the later start for practice. As usual it was dirty to begin with so that affected the grip and then in the second session it seemed the track began to drop off at one stage. The biggest issue we have to follow up is the tyres because the behaviour is not quite as we expected, but apart from that it was a pretty smooth day with both cars. We didn't have any significant issues so we completed quite a lot of laps and got through our full programme of looking at set-up and studying the tyres. It is only Friday so it's not easy to judge relative performance but we are looking quite competitive, even though we will focus on improving our long-run performance before the race."

Force India Mercedes - Australian GP - Free Practice

Force India's campaign got underway today with two 90 minute free practice sessions at the Albert Park track in Melbourne, Australia.

Both Adrian Sutil and Giancarlo Fisichella had strong starts to the year, with Sutil recording the ninth quickest time in both sessions and Fisichella the 14th and 13th fastest times - already on a par with their respective 2008 qualifying laps.

After a very limited winter testing programme, the team's objective today was to cover as many laps as possible and further its understanding of the new car, the VJM02. The programme also included comparing the two Bridgestone Potenza tyre compounds available this weekend, set-up work and, in the afternoon, longer and new tyre runs.
Adrian Sutil
"I hope this is representative of where we are, but it is still very early on in the weekend. We had a good session in the afternoon and could do some quite promising runs. I was pleased with the car, we had no real problems. The balance depended on the tyres. In the second session we did some race runs and struggled a lot with the softer tyre, but I think once the track rubbers in the tyres will grip better, but overall it was OK and a good position in the end.
I think we can be happy with where we are right now."
Giancarlo Fisichella
"It's a bit too early to say how we can perform this weekend. The car is better under high speed but so far I am struggling with the rear locking and I'm not 100% comfortable just yet. We're in better shape than last year for sure though. We will see tomorrow but at least we know there is potential to improve over night."
Simon Roberts, Chief Operating Officer
"It's been a promising start to the weekend today. I've been really pleased with the team and the overall performance. We managed to get everything we needed to completed and, apart from a couple of niggles in the first session - really just early season teething problems - it was a good team showing."

BMW Sauber - Australian GP - Free Practice

At 12.30 hrs local time in Melbourne, Australia, the 2009 season finally started. For the BMW Sauber team the two free practice sessions were trouble free and unspectacular. Nick Heidfeld finished 11th and 14th, while Robert Kubica was 13th and 15th.

The team fitted Heidfeld’s F1.09 with the Kinetic Energy Recovery System while Kubica drove without the hybrid system.
Nick Heidfeld
"It was great fun to drive here today. It was high time the season started. We had no technical problems and completed our entire programme – with the usual tyre comparison and long runs. The Albert Park circuit isn’t a permanent race track and, therefore, naturally has a very low grip level at the beginning of the race weekend. It improved a little during the two practice sessions but even in the end it wasn’t good."
Robert Kubica
"It was the first Friday of the season, but, apart from that, it was the normal work improving the set-up and evaluating the tyres for the race.
We collected a lot of data which we have to analyse so we can make more progress. Overall we are lacking grip, and we have to find out why."
Willy Rampf, Head of Engineering
"At last the new season has started! We did not have any technical problems today, KERS also worked without any difficulties. We were able to complete our full programme. The focus was the set-up work for the race, but so far we are not satisfied with this. The decisive factor will be to use the tyre performance perfectly for both specifications. We will concentrate on this in the third practice."

Red Bull Renault - Australian GP - Free Practice

Sebastian Vettel made his Grand Prix weekend debut today as a Red Bull Renault driver, but it was a tough day for last year's Italian Grand Prix winner.

A hydraulic failure left him stranded on track in the first session after just four laps, while an error saw him spin out of the second session with 30 minutes remaining. He was eighth fastest in session two.

Mark Webber also had a mechanical problem on his RB5 in the first session, but later went on to complete 30 laps and record the fourth fastest time.
Sebastian Vettel
“We had a bad session in this morning’s practice and didn’t get too much running, due to a hydraulics problem. In the afternoon we were able to get some laps in, but unfortunately I made a stupid mistake towards the end of the practice, so we couldn’t run through our programme. Nevertheless, it’s looking alright with what we’ve done compared to the time we had on the circuit, so let’s see how we go tomorrow. Like always on Fridays, it’s a bit difficult to interpret everyone’s lap times, but I think we can be happy.”
Mark Webber
“It’s great to be back in Australia. I’m proud of the Australian GP; they put on an excellent show here for everyone and it’s good for the local people. They’ve had a tough few months recently with the fires, so I hope they enjoy the weekend.
My day today was a bit hit and miss to be honest, as we had a few technical problems with the car. I didn’t get many laps in during the first session, but the second was a lot better. We completed more laps and tried both types of tyres, so we’ve got some good stuff to go through tonight."

"It was quite interesting to see how low the sun was through the trees towards the end of the second session, it was good to run with that to get used to it for Sunday.”
Christian Horner, Team Principal
“After the off-track activities of the last couple of days, it was good to get the weekend under way. There were a couple of issues in the first session – a hydraulics leak with Sebastian and a driveshaft problem with Mark limited our run-time. In the second session both drivers showed good pace and we worked through our programme. Unfortunately Sebastian had a small off, which ended his day early, but both drivers seem comfortable in the car and their pace was respectable.”

Ferrari - Australian GP - Free Practice

The first two sessions of free practice for the Australian Grand Prix confirmed that the rule changes introduced this year have jumbled up the pack.

Ferrari were not alone in finding themselves lower than would have been expected, with Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen tenth and 11th fastest respectively.

Stefano Domenicali
“One cannot really draw hasty conclusions after just three hours of free practice, but the first signs seem to support what we saw during winter testing. The pecking order that had established itself in recent years seems to have been overturned and we now find ourselves up against different and more numerous rivals."

"We did a lot of kilometres, pretty much completing the planned programme and now we have to carefully study all the data gathered. The most important data that catches the eye today concerns tyre management, which this year as never before, seems rather delicate: the softer tyres seem to degrade considerably over a distance, while the harder ones suffer from a lack of grip. We knew this to be the case and we have to concentrate on this problem and on how to improve the overall performance of the F60."

Felipe Massa
“We are more or less okay with the set up, although there is still room to improve the performance. I was not able to do a time on the soft tyres in the second session as I made a mistake because of oversteer: in this phase we had a different balance on the car compared to when we had used the hard tyres, which proved not to be the ideal choice.
On top of that, towards the end of the session, the wind got up a bit, which definitely did not help. Tomorrow, with everyone on the same fuel load, we will see what the situation is.”

Kimi Raikkonen
“This morning, the car went well, while in the afternoon, we didn’t manage to find a satisfactory set up, even though we tried various solutions. I think there is every chance we can improve our performance, but I can’t say by how much compared to the others. Today, it’s difficult to say where we are compared to them and we will see after tomorrow’s qualifying.”

Luca Baldisserri
"The first Friday of the season always throws up some surprises and that is even more than usual the case this year, given the numerous rule changes. Today, we did a lot of running and had no technical problems: reliability will be one of the dominant themes of the championship and it will be vital to try and pick up points every time. In these three hours of free practice, we saw that our performance over a long run seems to be very consistent but we have to see how to improve outright performance for tomorrow’s qualifying.”

Brawn GP - Australian GP - Free Practice

Exactly three weeks after the Brawn GP team ran the BGP 001 for the first time, the car made its competitive debut today at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne on the opening day of the Australian Grand Prix weekend.

Drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello took to the track with their helmets liveried in the team's distinctive yellow, black and white colour scheme to mark the occasion.

Grip levels on the public roads which make up the Albert Park circuit were very low for the first practice session as the team began working through their Friday programme.

The drivers concentrated on refining the balance of the BGP 001 to their liking and putting further valuable mileage on the new car. As the track conditions improved in the second session, the team completed a thorough evaluation of the Bridgestone tyre compounds available for this race.

The team's two BGP 001 cars covered 109 laps of the 5.3km (3.3) mile track today, finishing the second practice session with Rubens in second place on the timesheets and Jenson in fifth position.

Rubens Barrichello
"To be here in Melbourne is a real achievement for the team and it feels good to be back in the car and working towards a race weekend strategy again. Despite the limited testing time that we were able to do before this race, we have proved that we have a competitive car and were achieved some good work today. We evaluated both tyres and are happy with the overall performance so I think we have a good chance of a strong qualifying performance tomorrow."

Jenson Button
"It was great to finally get the season underway today. We had a good first day of practice and the long run performance looks competitive, particularly on the harder tyre. We still have some work to do on the softer tyre so that will be a priority for tomorrow's practice session. I had traffic on both of my new tyres runs at the end of the day which was a shame so we don't know how quick we are over one lap yet but there is plenty of time to find that out tomorrow."

Ross Brawn
"The circuit at Albert Park is very different to the tracks that we used for our limited pre-season testing programme so our focus today has been on setting the car up to suit the conditions that we have here and the preferences of our drivers. Track conditions improved considerably in the second session however we are clearly not alone in finding the experience of running slightly later in the day less favourable than anticipated."

"It is a useful indication of what we may find when the race runs at a similar time on Sunday. The car performed well and we are pleased with the day's work experiencing only minor issues which are to be expected with our limited testing mileage. A good start to the weekend."

Nico Rosberg is flying

Nico Rosberg set the Friday pace for the Williams Toyota team topping both the lunchtime and evening sessions. While the diffuser dispute has not gone away, it is notable that the three teams under the spotlight, ended the second practice session of the Australian Grand Prix at the head of the timesheets.

The 90 minute session was largely uneventful as cooler evening conditions made it difficult for the 20 runners to make late gains, despite opting to run the super-soft Bridgestone Potenza ‘option’ tyre.

Rosberg set the pace with a best lap of 1:26.053s, a tenth clear of Brawn Mercedes' Rubens Barrichello, who was one of the few to find time just ahead of the chequered flag. Rosberg’s time was less than a second off the fastest time in qualifying last year. Jarno Trulli was third fastest for Toyota and put in the most laps in this session. Team-mate Timo Glock was sixth fastest with Mark Webber and Jenson Button splitting the duo for Red Bull Renault and Brawn GP.

Webber lost much of the first session due to a mechanical problem, but had no such problems in the second as he lapped just three-tenths off the ultimate pace in his RB5.

Kazuki Nakajima, second fastest in first practice, was again showing well in the second Williams as he posted the seventh fastest time ahead of Sebastian Vettel who looked very ragged and ultimately spun his Red Bull out of the session with 30 minutes remaining.

Adrian Sutil continued to show well for the Mercedes-powered Force India team with the ninth fastest time while Giancarlo Fisichella was two-tenths adrift in 13th position.

There wasn't much for Ferrari to smile about on the opening day of the new season. Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen were just tenth and 11th fastest respectively. Renault will also be disappointed to see Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet 12th and 18th, but they are in good company as both BMW Sauber and McLaren Mercedes also struggled mightily.

Nick Heidfeld was 14th ahead of Robert Kubica, Sebastien Bourdais in the leading Toro Rosso Ferrari, Heikki Kovalainen and Piquet. Rookie Sebastien Buemi brought up the rear in the second Toro Rosso, two seconds off the pace.

There is a very different look to not just the cars, but also the timesheets in 2009...

Australian GP - First practice

After a long winter Formula One burst back into life this afternoon at Albert Park. While the teams have put in many thousands of kilometres in pre-season testing, the first practice session of the first Grand Prix of the season is always a little special.

While the diffuser issue dominated the headlines on Thursday, today the teams got down to their Grand Prix weekend programmes and it was Nico Rosberg who set the pace for the Williams Toyota team with a best lap of 1:26.687s, five-hundredths of a second ahead of team-mate Kazuki Nakajima.

Williams, along with Brawn Mercedes and Toyota, remain embroiled in the rear diffuser controversy, but the final laps of the session saw the team move to the top of the timesheets ahead of Kimi Raikkonen’s Ferrari who recorded his best lap on the softer option Bridgestone Potenza.

Rubens Barrichello underlined the pre-season testing form of the new Brawn Mercedes with the fourth fastest time, half a second adrift of Rosberg, while team-mate Jenson Button was sixth best in the second BGP 001.

Heikki Kovalainen ran well for McLaren Mercedes to split the Brawn duo in fifth position while team-mate Lewis Hamilton had a much tougher time of things in the second MP4-24. Hamilton, the defending race winner and world champion, suffered numerous off-track moments and ended the session just 16th fastest.

Felipe Massa was seventh fastest in the second Ferrari ahead of Timo Glock who led the way for the Toyota team.
Adrian Sutil impressed in the Mercedes-powered Force India with the ninth fastest time, but may have opted for the option tyre for his quick run.

Fernando Alonso sat out the first out of the session in his Renault before posting the tenths best time. The R29 appeared especially twitchy and the Spaniard seemed keen to give the kerbs a wide berth. Team-mate Nelson Piquet survived a spin and was a lowly 18th.

Nick Heidfeld led the BMW Sauber charge with the 11th best time ahead of Trulli in the second Toyota and team-mate Robert Kubica. Giancarlo Fisichella was 14th ahead of rookie Sebastien Buemi who made a late gain to record the 15th best time.

It was a poor first session of the season from the Red Bull Renault team with Mark Webber completing just seven laps before a drive-shaft issue sidelines his RB5. Team-mate Sebastian Vettel fared even worse as a hydraulic problem saw him out of the session almost before it really began, Webber was 17th best ahead of Piquet, Sebastien Bourdais in the second Toro Rosso and Vettel.

Hamilton disappointed with the new MP4-24 package

Comments made by Lewis Hamilton in Melbourne have been interpreted by the British media as a sign the reigning world champion might consider leaving McLaren.

While admitting to reporters that even scoring points at Albert Park this weekend will be difficult, the 24-year-old Briton was asked on Thursday if the situation could lead to him shopping around for a better drive.

"I haven't had offers from other teams and I am not talking to anyone but I would listen to an offer if someone asked," he said. "It would be a compliment and it would be silly if I did not."

The quote was interpreted as an 'admission he could leave' McLaren (the Guardian), that he has 'doubts over future' (the Times), and a 'hint' that could 'alert Ferrari' (the Telegraph).

Hamilton, however, is under contract until 2012, and he has previously said he never intends to leave the Mercedes-powered team.

But he also admitted to reporters that, unlike last year's '8 out of 10' MP4-23 with which he won the drivers' title, the package he will race this weekend scores just a 'four'.

"I honestly don't know (why)," Hamilton admitted. "I think we focused so much on last year's car, we maybe left it a little bit late to focus on this year's car."