Practice report
Formula 1 Australian GP
Lewis Hamilton dominates final F1 practice session in Melbourne
Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg almost a second slower in last running before qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.
Edited: Mar 14, 2015, 5:46 AM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton set a scorching pace in the final free practice session on Saturday morning ahead of Australian Grand Prix qualifying in Melbourne.
Hamilton set the pace on 1:27.867 around Albert Park, seven tenths of a second faster than Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel. Rosberg was only third quickest on 1:28.821.
Rosberg had set the early pace on the medium tyre running, with a 1:29.364, but Hamilton toppled him with a 1:29.128 – despite a couple of grassy excursions at Turn 9.
Rosberg was the first of the frontrunners to try the soft tyres this weekend, setting 1:28.939 at first, later improving to 28.821.
Then Hamilton pinged in his 1:27.867 best with five minutes to go, with Vettel posting 1:28.563 soon after to go second fastest, pushing Rosberg back to third.
Hamilton’s second lap was faster in the first two sectors, but he aborted that lap – so he could go even quicker this afternoon.
Williams duo Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa were fourth and fifth, ahead of Ferrari’s Kimi Raikkonen. Lotus twins Romain Grosjean and Pastor Maldonado were next up, ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr (Toro Rosso), Felipe Nasr (Sauber) and Max Verstappen (Toro Rosso).
Red Bull in the wars
It was a disastrous session for Red Bull. First, newboy Daniil Kvyat locked up and went straight on at Turn 15 early on due to an engine software issue that accelerated the car under braking. “The Renault guys are looking at that one,” sighed team principal Christian Horner from the pitwall.
Kvyat ended the session 18th on 1:32.830 and his session was curtailed 10 minutes early due to an engine fire.
Things were little better with local hero Daniel Ricciardo, 15th on 1:31.185, who complained: “Really bad driveability” from his engine in his early laps. He was forced to stop after 28 minutes of the session, being fortunate to get pushed back by marshals from where he'd ground to a halt at the end of the pitlane.
Ricciardo rejoined 10 minutes later, but required his brakes bleeding which forced him to also end his session prematurely.
Red Bull was the only team not to run the soft tyre in that session, but Ricciardo still outpaced the two tardy McLarens, which used the softs.
Others hit some trouble too
Elsewhere, Sauber’s Marcus Ericsson spun exiting Turn 12 and did a good job to keep it out of the wall.
McLaren’s Kevin Magnussen (16th) and Force India’s Sergio Perez (14th) had near miss at final corner, which angered the Mexican, while Sainz ran through gravel.
The Manor machines again didn’t venture from the pit garage and look unlikely to run at any point this weekend.
Pos. Driver Team Time Gap Laps 1 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:27.867 11 2 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:28.563 0.696 13 3 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:28.821 0.954 14 4 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1:28.912 1.045 14 5 Felipe Massa Williams-Mercedes 1:28.988 1.121 18 6 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:29.017 1.150 13 7 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Mercedes 1:29.481 1.614 12 8 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Mercedes 1:29.864 1.997 15 9 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso-Renault 1:29.869 2.002 19 10 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1:29.934 2.067 24 11 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Renault 1:29.952 2.085 16 12 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1:30.613 2.746 21 13 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:30.741 2.874 14 14 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1:30.993 3.126 17 15 Daniel Ricciardo Red Bull-Renault 1:31.185 3.318 10 16 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Honda 1:31.391 3.524 14 17 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 1:31.666 3.799 13 18 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull-Renault 1:32.830 4.463 6
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Australian Grand Prix FP3 results: Hamilton back on top
Next article Australian GP qualifying results: Hamilton clinches pole
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Felipe Massa
On this day: Michael Schumacher wins… and stuns tifosi with F1 retirement
Formula 1
Formula 1
Italian GP
On this day: Michael Schumacher wins… and stuns tifosi with F1 retirement
Defendant ordered to pay £250,000 legal fees in Felipe Massa F1 title case
Formula 1
Formula 1
Defendant ordered to pay £250,000 legal fees in Felipe Massa F1 title case
Felipe Massa’s F1 2008 lawsuit will proceed to trial
Formula 1
Formula 1
Las Vegas GP
Felipe Massa’s F1 2008 lawsuit will proceed to trial
Latest news
McLaren to use final 2026 developments to test 2027 F1 car concepts
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 2 min
McLaren to use final 2026 developments to test 2027 F1 car concepts
Toyota answers critics who doubted it could win in WEC’s competitive Hypercar era
WEC
WEC WEC
Barcelona
1 h
Toyota answers critics who doubted it could win in WEC’s competitive Hypercar era
Honda ADUO engine upgrade pegged driveability back near Spec 1 level
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1
United States GP
2 h
Honda ADUO engine upgrade pegged driveability back near Spec 1 level
Why Alex Marquez hasn't been able to replicate his 2025 MotoGP form
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP 2 h
Why Alex Marquez hasn't been able to replicate his 2025 MotoGP form
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe