Australia – FP1: Hamilton already shakes the 2016 pole time!

Cries of birth in the heart of the night. The most dedicated European fans had set their alarms to admire the new Formula 1 models. Wider and more aggressive, the 2017 version cars hit the track in official competition in Australia, under pleasant conditions. The autumn climate of the Southern Hemisphere spared the drivers, with clear skies and 21 degrees in the air, compared to 27 on the track.

Devastating times right from the start, two French speakers stuck

At the antipodes, 16,790 kilometers from Paris, it was Romain Grosjean who will be remembered as the first competitor on the Albert Park track. The Frenchman carried out routine checks by completing an un-timed lap, like all his peers.

It took 25 minutes to see a first lap time, set by rookie Lance Stroll, at 1:28.363 on super soft tires.

A few seconds later, Lewis Hamilton set his mark at 1:26.478 on the same tires, right from his very first flying lap. But it was indeed his new teammate who held the lead midway through the session. Valtteri Bottas signed a 1:25.142, ahead at that moment of Ricciardo’s Red Bull (+0.373), Hamilton’s Mercedes (+0.393), and Räikkönen’s Ferrari, on soft tires, in fourth, eight-tenths behind. An already impressive gap of more than 4 seconds compared to the best time of FP1 in 2016 (1:29.725, under more capricious weather). At the bottom of the table, only two drivers had not yet posted a time: Stoffel Vandoorne in his McLaren and Esteban Ocon in a Force India, freshly adorned in candy pink, thanks to a new sponsor.

We’re doing #PinkInThePitlane! The new #VJM10 paint job is unveiled in the flesh in Melbourne and it’s 😍 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/qRGITRiboj

— Sahara Force India (@ForceIndiaF1) March 24, 2017

Mercedes is already on the offensive, Ferrari is hiding

As in 2016, the competitors returned a first set of tires to Pirelli after 40 minutes. It was a moment to observe a small lull before resuming the training programs. Upon resumption, there was a little surprise with the appearance of a McLaren-Honda on track! It was Stoffel Vandoorne’s car, for his first weekend as a full-time driver, having replaced Fernando Alonso at the last minute in 2016 after his terrible accident during the Australian Grand Prix.

At the top of the standings, the lap times smashed the 1:25.000 barrier, with Ricciardo, Hamilton, and Bottas. However, unlike the Mercedes drivers, the Australian was still on super-softs. Not satisfied with his position, driver number 44 continued to improve, with a best time of 1:24.220. That’s just seven-tenths off Sebastian Vettel’s record set in 2011 with a V8 engine!

On the Ferrari side, a reaction was still eagerly awaited. The four-time German world champion was even held back for a few minutes in his garage due to a minor issue, before finally heading out in the last quarter of an hour, on soft tires, then on supersofts. Meanwhile, the two McLaren drivers were deeply immersed in an extensive data analysis, with an overall average number of laps completed. Overall, the fastest of the McLaren drivers, Fernando Alonso, came up to 14th place, but was 2.890 seconds off the lead.

However, these initial rankings provide very little effective insight into the course of hostilities. More than elsewhere, the Albert Park circuit is subject to a constant evolution of track conditions. It will be necessary to find out the summary of FP2 to more precisely determine the trend of the first act of this 2017 season…

Here is the ranking of this FP1:

PROVISIONAL CLASSIFICATION: END OF #FP1

First practice session of 2017 = DONE#AusGP #F1isBack 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/mNQGxHTJlv

— Formula 1 (@F1) 24 mars 2017

Meet us in a little while around 7:30 on our site to discover the summary of the second session!