Lewis Hamilton had the perfect start to his 2017 Formula one campaign today when he finished the opening 90 minute free practice session at the Albert ark Circuit in first place.
He then followed this up with another top spot in FP2 as he ran all three compounds supplied by partners at Pirelli in the morning session and followed it up with just the soft and the ultra soft in the afternoon.
‘It's great to be back in Australia and I'm super happy to be back in the car - particularly after a first day like that. It was 99 per cent perfect,” he said. “After struggling with some issues in Barcelona, we didn't know if we'd have the same thing here. What's really encouraging is that we've arrived at the track just a week later and the car is exactly where it should be.”
“ It's feeling great out there and the guys have done a fantastic job. We've shown good form so far on both the long and short runs and we got every lap done that we wanted to. The tyres performed really well today too. Coming into today, we really didn't know where we'd be. We knew from FP1 that the Ferrari's weren't at their maximum.”
“Of course, in FP2 all of a sudden they were quick. We'll see tomorrow how it really stands. I feel very much at home in Melbourne. There's always a great buzz here and a lot of support. I'm just really happy to see everyone and receive their positive energy. I'll be pushing as hard as I can to win this race.”
