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A tricky opening day of track action in Australia

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The first day of running at Albert Park provided plenty of intrigue. Conditions proved difficult throughout, with drivers across the field struggling with lock ups and major moments as they got to grips with the circuit.

George ended the day sixth fastest in FP2 with Lewis, unable to set a representative time on either of his first two push laps on the soft tyre, P18. Those times therefore don’t tell the full story but there is clearly work for the team to do overnight to improve the balance of the car. That will be the focus of those trackside in Melbourne and our colleagues back in Brackley.

Earlier in the day, George had finished P3 and Lewis P9 in FP1. The team’s focus was all about learning and data gathering. The low grip levels led to a number of moments across the field, with Alex Albon in the Williams bringing out the red flag as he crashed at turn seven.

The fastest time of the day was set by the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, with the Red Bull of Max Verstappen a few tenths further behind in P2.

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George Russell

We were pushing the limits today and I had a few moments out there. It was all under control in the end though. It was very tight out there in the first session with FP2 slightly more spread out. I was on for a really good lap on my last push on the Soft tyre, but just ran wide in the last two corners and picked up some minor damage to my front-wing. Without that, I think we would have finished the session P3.

We are trying to understand this car further and made some changes after Saudi Arabia. Every single lap is so valuable as you learn more about the car and try to get it into the sweet spot. We will have the team back at the factory working hard in the simulator to get more performance out of it. Let’s see what tomorrow brings. When you arrive the next day, it can often be very different.

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Lewis Hamilton

It didn’t feel great out there today. We began the day on the front foot and in FP1, the car generally felt good. The first run was actually the best the car has felt so far this year. To continue our learning, we made some big changes into FP2 and unfortunately, that made the car worse. It was tough but there are positives we can take from the first session. We will be working hard overnight to make improvements ahead of tomorrow.

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Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director

We had a good FP1 session. The changes we made to improve our high-speed cornering performance and reduce the bouncing after Saudi Arabia seemed to be a good step in the right direction. Overall, the car was feeling quite good.

Unfortunately, FP2 wasn't as strong. Lewis felt that we had gone in the wrong direction with our changes. Frustratingly, they weren't quick to unwind so he had to live with that throughout the session. George found the car a bit trickier in the windier conditions of FP2 compared to earlier in the day. We could have ended a bit higher up the time sheets had he not had a bit of damage. Overall though, it’s clear that we've got work to do overnight to improve the car.

Free Practice 2 - Results

<table><tbody><tr><td>1</td><td>Charles Leclerc</td><td>Ferrari</td><td>1:17.277</td><td>26</td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>Max Verstappen</td><td>Red Bull</td><td>1:17.658</td><td>21</td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>Carlos Sainz Jr.</td><td>Ferrari</td><td>1:17.707</td><td>25</td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>Lance Stroll</td><td>Aston Martin</td><td>1:17.822</td><td>29</td></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>Fernando Alonso</td><td>Aston Martin</td><td>1:17.912</td><td>31</td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>George Russell</td><td>Mercedes-AMG</td><td>1:17.951</td><td>24</td></tr><tr><td>7</td><td>Oscar Piastri</td><td>McLaren</td><td>1:18.077</td><td>29</td></tr><tr><td>8</td><td>Sergio Pérez</td><td>Red Bull</td><td>1:18.090</td><td>33</td></tr><tr><td>9</td><td>Lando Norris</td><td>McLaren</td><td>1:18.155</td><td>23</td></tr><tr><td>10</td><td>Yuki Tsunoda</td><td>Racing Bulls</td><td>1:18.188</td><td>27</td></tr><tr><td>11</td><td>Zhou Guanyu</td><td>Sauber</td><td>1:18.421</td><td>32</td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>Daniel Ricciardo</td><td>Racing Bulls</td><td>1:18.534</td><td>30</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>Logan Sargeant</td><td>Williams</td><td>1:18.578</td><td>23</td></tr><tr><td>14</td><td>Valtteri Bottas</td><td>Sauber</td><td>1:18.585</td><td>32</td></tr><tr><td>15</td><td>Pierre Gasly</td><td>Alpine</td><td>1:18.691</td><td>33</td></tr><tr><td>16</td><td>Nico Hülkenberg</td><td>Haas</td><td>1:18.702</td><td>28</td></tr><tr><td>17</td><td>Esteban Ocon</td><td>Alpine</td><td>1:18.705</td><td>32</td></tr><tr><td>18</td><td>Lewis Hamilton</td><td>Mercedes-AMG</td><td>1:18.834</td><td>23</td></tr><tr><td>19</td><td>Kevin Magnussen</td><td>Haas</td><td>1:19.275</td><td>31</td></tr></tbody></table>

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Free Practice 1 - Results

<table><tbody><tr><td>1</td><td>Lando Norris</td><td>McLaren</td><td>1:18.564</td><td>23</td></tr><tr><td>2</td><td>Max Verstappen</td><td>Red Bull</td><td>1:18.582</td><td>19</td></tr><tr><td>3</td><td>George Russell</td><td>Mercedes-AMG</td><td>1:18.597</td><td>21</td></tr><tr><td>4</td><td>Charles Leclerc</td><td>Ferrari</td><td>1:18.599</td><td>22</td></tr><tr><td>5</td><td>Yuki Tsunoda</td><td>Racing Bulls</td><td>1:18.621</td><td>26</td></tr><tr><td>6</td><td>Sergio Pérez</td><td>Red Bull</td><td>1:18.642</td><td>23</td></tr><tr><td>7</td><td>Lance Stroll</td><td>Aston Martin</td><td>1:18.667</td><td>26</td></tr><tr><td>8</td><td>Carlos Sainz</td><td>Ferrari</td><td>1:18.686</td><td>23</td></tr><tr><td>9</td><td>Lewis Hamilton</td><td>Mercedes-AMG</td><td>1:18.771</td><td>20</td></tr><tr><td>10</td><td>Oscar Piastri</td><td>McLaren</td><td>1:18.918</td><td>25</td></tr><tr><td>11</td><td>Daniel Ricciardo</td><td>Racing Bulls</td><td>1:19.274</td><td>25</td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>Alexander Albon</td><td>Williams</td><td>1:19.443</td><td>11</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>Kevin Magnussen</td><td>Haas</td><td>1:19.489</td><td>21</td></tr><tr><td>14</td><td>Logan Sargeant</td><td>Williams</td><td>1:19.519</td><td>22</td></tr><tr><td>15</td><td>Esteban Ocon</td><td>Alpine</td><td>1:19.561</td><td>25</td></tr><tr><td>16</td><td>Nico Hülkenberg</td><td>Haas</td><td>1:19.604</td><td>21</td></tr><tr><td>17</td><td>Pierre Gasly</td><td>Alpine</td><td>1:19.622</td><td>25</td></tr><tr><td>18</td><td>Fernando Alonso</td><td>Aston Martin</td><td>1:19.716</td><td>16</td></tr><tr><td>19</td><td>Zhou Guanyu</td><td>Sauber</td><td>1:19.989</td><td>23</td></tr><tr><td>20</td><td>Valtteri Bottas</td><td>Sauber</td><td>1:20.014</td><td>21</td></tr></tbody></table>

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