Subscribe

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Australia

Rosberg stays on top in second practice

Nico Rosberg stayed on top of the times in second practice for the Australian Grand Prix as Mercedes began to show its hand.

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1 Team

Photo by: XPB Images

Nico Rosberg, Mercedes AMG F1
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes AMG F1 W06 - steering wheel
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing
Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing RB11
Valtteri Bottas, Williams FW37
Pastor Maldonado, Lotus F1 E23
Nico Hulkenberg, Sahara Force India F1 VJM08

The German driver posted a best time of 1:27.697 to finish exactly one tenth of a second ahead of teammate and world champion Lewis Hamilton.

The Mercedes duo were the only drivers to lap in the 1m27s.

Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel was third quickest, albeit over seven tenths of a second off Rosberg's pace. Teammate Kimi Raikkonen was fourth, with Valtteri Bottas completing the top five in the Williams.

The session was red-flagged 17 minutes in when McLaren's Kevin Magnussen lost control of his car under braking for Turn 6, hitting the wall and damaging the front suspension.

"The crash was my mistake. Just lost the rear on the entry and unfortunately hit the wall and damaged the left front. Another day tomorrow," said Magnussen, who managed just four laps and finished at the bottom of the times.

Teammate Jenson Button had a more productive session and covered 21 laps on his way to the 13th quickest time of the day, although he reported a loss of power near the end of the running.

After missing first practice, Sauber was the first team to take the track with both Felipe Nasr and Marcus Ericsson.

The Swede had a productive session until he damaged his suspension on a kerb 45 minutes into the session and did not return to the track.

Local hero Daniel Ricciardo missed all of the running because his Red Bull team was forced to replace his Renault engine.

Williams driver Felipe Massa also failed to leave the pits after the team had to repair a water leak in the Mercedes power unit.

Manor duo Roberto Merhi and Will Stevens did not take to the track at all once again. 

Pos. Driver Team Time Gap Laps
1 Nico Rosberg Mercedes 1:27.697   27
2 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes 1:27.797 0.100 23
3 Sebastian Vettel Ferrari 1:28.412 0.715 33
4 Kimi Raikkonen Ferrari 1:28.842 1.145 33
5 Valtteri Bottas Williams-Mercedes 1:29.265 1.568 31
6 Daniil Kvyat Red Bull-Renault 1:30.016 2.319 27
7 Carlos Sainz Toro Rosso-Renault 1:30.071 2.374 39
8 Pastor Maldonado Lotus-Mercedes 1:30.104 2.407 11
9 Romain Grosjean Lotus-Mercedes 1:30.205 2.508 36
10 Nico Hulkenberg Force India-Mercedes 1:30.473 2.776 30
11 Felipe Nasr Sauber-Ferrari 1:30.755 3.058 31
12 Sergio Perez Force India-Mercedes 1:30.980 3.283 32
13 Jenson Button McLaren-Honda 1:31.387 3.690 21
14 Max Verstappen Toro Rosso-Renault 1:31.395 3.698 6
15 Marcus Ericsson Sauber-Ferrari 1:32.303 4.606 14
16 Kevin Magnussen McLaren-Hoinda 1:33.289 5.592 4

Be part of Motorsport community

Join the conversation
Previous article Toro Rosso struggles with power in Melbourne
Next article Kaltenborn ducks van der Garde questions

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

Sign up for free

  • Get quick access to your favorite articles

  • Manage alerts on breaking news and favorite drivers

  • Make your voice heard with article commenting.

Motorsport prime

Discover premium content
Subscribe

Edition

Australia