2015 Australian Grand Prix Friday - Practice
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Hamilton is now down to seventh. He didn't do as 'full-on' a lap as Rosberg on those early runs and is 2.5s off the pace.
Slight improvement from Raikkonen, who stays third but cuts the gap to Vettel to 0.047s.
Vettel jumps to second, but he's still 2s down on pacesetter Rosberg. The four-time champion is 0.189s faster than Raikkonen in third.
Sainz goes third for Toro Rosso, a tenth behind Raikkonen and two tenths ahead of Bottas.
That 1m29.5s lap Rosberg has done is a big step up over the practice one pace last year. Fernando Alonso led that one with a 1m31.840s.
Maldonado brings the tally of drivers who have done flying laps up to 11 with a 1m33.969s, currently slowest.
Bottas moves Williams up to third with a 1m31.931s, 2.4s off Rosberg and 0.3s behind Raikkonen in second.
Stopwatch
Order so far: 1 Rosberg, 2 Raikkonen, 3 Hamilton, 4 Massa, 5 Verstappen, 6 Vettel but times nowhere near 'real' yet for most.
Vettel goes sixth in the other Ferrari, 3.7s off the pace.
Bottas's first time is a 1m33.819s, which puts him seventh.
Raikkonen goes second for Ferrari with a 1m31.773s, 2.2s off Rosberg's benchmark.
Hulkenberg and Perez do 1m35s and 1m40s in the Force Indias. Verstappen, Massa and Sainz have improved in fourth to sixth positions.
Felipe Massa ran wide slightly on his lap at the exit of Turn 3. Unlikely to have cost him much time, though.
Massa's first flying lap is a 1m37.128s, popping into fourth just ahead of Sainz.
So it's Rosberg, Hamilton, Verstappen, Sainz in the order, but many seconds apart as these are all tentative laps.
Sainz clocks in with a 1m37.197s in fourth.
We've now had 15 cars out - yet to see Ricciardo, the Saubers and the Manors (the latter unlikely to run this morning).
Verstappen is the third man to set a time, with a 1m34.146s behind the two Mercedes.
Breaking news
EDD STRAW: "It remains to be seen whether Manor can get on track in this session. In anticipation of the auction of the team's assets, which eventually didn't happen, all of the hard drives possessed by the team were wiped, so it is having to go through the complex process of rebuilding all of the software systems.
"If that sounds straightforward, it isn't. These cars are hugely complex, and this task involves getting software from multiple different companies to talk to each other and to work properly.
"The team is very confident it will get there, but shortly before the session could give no timescale."
"If that sounds straightforward, it isn't. These cars are hugely complex, and this task involves getting software from multiple different companies to talk to each other and to work properly.
"The team is very confident it will get there, but shortly before the session could give no timescale."
Roberto Merhi
BEN ANDERSON: "According to Williams performance chief Rob Smedley we can expect the balance of the cars to evolve from an initial understeer bias on a 'green' circuit. Once the circuit improves, rear grip will become more of a limiting factor."
Stopwatch
Rosberg improves the benchmark to a 1m29.557s.
Twitter
No sign of Manor on track yet, and that might be a theme today:
"The first #FP1 of '15 is underway. We've experienced a few hurdles to get here so we're not expecting our first morning to be plain sailing."
The team's last-minute preparations are such that work is continuing to get the cars ready to go for the first time in the garage here.
"The first #FP1 of '15 is underway. We've experienced a few hurdles to get here so we're not expecting our first morning to be plain sailing."
The team's last-minute preparations are such that work is continuing to get the cars ready to go for the first time in the garage here.
Stopwatch
Rosberg puts in the first laptime of the year, a 1m31.319s, as Hamilton does a 1m32.044s.
Latest on the Sauber situation from EDD STRAW:
"Giedo van der Garde did have a seat fitting this morning in Marcus Ericsson's car, but whatever happened he did not have the requisite superlicence to allow him to participate. So the team has stuck with its regular drivers. But both Sauber and van der Garde are due back in court later today."
"Giedo van der Garde did have a seat fitting this morning in Marcus Ericsson's car, but whatever happened he did not have the requisite superlicence to allow him to participate. So the team has stuck with its regular drivers. But both Sauber and van der Garde are due back in court later today."
Giedo van der Garde
Romain Grosjean and Sergio Perez send sparks flying over the Albert Park circuit.
No sign of any technical problems for either, though, those sparks are the result of this year's minor technical rule tweak involving skidblocks on the cars' undersides.
No sign of any technical problems for either, though, those sparks are the result of this year's minor technical rule tweak involving skidblocks on the cars' undersides.
Twitter
Mercedes sums up the mood perfectly via its twitter feed:
"Green light! That's the sign people! #F1 is officially back in business!! Oh yeah!!! #F1DownUnder @ausgrandprix"
"Green light! That's the sign people! #F1 is officially back in business!! Oh yeah!!! #F1DownUnder @ausgrandprix"
Ten of the 20 cars have now been on track, with Kevin Magnussen getting the McLaren rolling. No laptimes yet.
Nico Hulkenberg and Daniil Kvyat are next out.
The Toro Rossos and Ferraris are the first four cars to hit the circuit.
The green light is on and F1 2015 has begun.
It's a clear, bright and sunny day in Melbourne, and Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr are in the Saubers for now - although Giedo van der Garde has been in a Sauber race suit (Ericsson's) this morning.
Good morning and welcome to the 2015 Formula 1 season. Opening practice for the Australian Grand Prix is not many minutes away.
By: AUTOSPORT staff, Jack Benyon, Ben Anderson, Glenn Freeman
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