2008 AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX FREE PRACTICE
Albert Park, Melbourne,
Lewis Hamilton MP4-23 04
Heikki Kovalainen MP4-23 03
The Vodafone McLaren Mercedes team began the 2008 Formula
1 season at Albert Park in Melbourne by drivers Lewis Hamilton
and Heikki Kovalainen finishing the second practice session
fastest and fourth with times of 1:26.559 and 1:27.605. Lewis
and Heikki were second and fourth in the first session with
times of 1:26.948 and 1:27.114 respectvely.
Practice Session One:
Lewis Heikki:
10.05: out / in 10.02: out / in
10.39: 8 laps, best 1:27.085 10.40: 6 laps, best 1:27.929
11.01: 5 laps, best 1:29.021 10.58: 5 laps, best 1:28.016
11.19: 8 laps, best 1:26.948 (2nd) 11.17: 8 laps, best 1:27.114
(4th)
Practice Session Two:
Lewis: Heikki:
14.03: 5 laps, best 1:27.742 14.03: 7 laps, best 1:28.578
14.31: 12 laps, best 1:28.134 14.33: 5 laps, best 1:27.683
14.58: 11 laps, best 1:28.046 14.55: 10 laps, best 1:28.788
15.24: 6 laps, best 1:26.559 (1st) 15.21: 7 laps, best 1:28.198
(4th)
LEWIS HAMILTON
"It’s great to be back racing and being here in
Melbourne where I started my Formula 1 career only a year
ago. It’s always a special feeling to go out of the
garage for the first time in practice at the start of a new
season. There was some good progress with the car, and we
made the best use of the ever improving track conditions.
However our main opposition looks strong, but it’s still
too early to tell exactly where we are in comparison. All
in all a good start to the Australian Grand Prix and the season."
HEIKKI KOVALAINEN
"It was a great feeling to drive out of the garage as
a Vodafone McLaren Mercedes driver for the first time. I enjoy
the professionalism of the team and how they operated during
today’s two sessions. It was a bit hotter than expected
but that is just good practice for Malaysia. The wind was
also something we had to take into consideration, but we made
some good progress with the car. There was some graining of
the tyres due to the dirty track conditions, but things improved
as the circuit got more grip."
RON DENNIS
"Both Lewis and Heikki made solid starts to the weekend
and are pleased with the balance of the car. We spent the
first session just familiarsing ourselves with the track as
it was dirty and continued to get faster and faster. In the
second session we started work on qualifying set-up and tyre
evaluation. The strong wind today was an additional challenge
for the set-up work, but we experienced no problems. The entire
team both in Woking, Brixworth and Stuttgart has worked so
hard to get us to where we are today and I hope their efforts
will be rewarded with a strong start to the season."
NORBERT HAUG
"A lot of work within the team has taken place since
the 9th January when we ran both M4-23s for the first time
in Spain so we were all interested in seeing how this showed
on the first day of practice. It looks like we are in quite
a good position to fight for the best places tomorrow and
hopefully on Sunday, too - when it counts."
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