Sergio Perez says that Friday practice at Albert Park was “a mess” as he struggled with traffic during the day.
In the early stages of FP1, there were a number of close calls on the circuit, with Perez forced to abandon his hot lap on more than one occasion due to traffic.
A red flag was issued when the FIA had to reboot its GPS system as the teams had no information regarding where the cars were on the circuit.
However, Perez says that even when the GPS was restored, traffic remained a problem.
“It was a bit mental,” he said. “I think especially going into FP2, it felt like a lot of people still had issues with their GPS data. So it was just a mess. I couldn’t get up a lap in.
“We made some changes which seemed to be working well into sector one, sector two, but not much to say really, I think tomorrow there’s plenty to do.
“Too much to do in FP3 [alone] so I think we’re going to be going a bit blind into the race, which should be interesting.”
The FIA has since sent a document to all Formula 1 teams detailing that drivers must stay below a 1:35.000 lap time during reconnaissance and in-laps at Albert Park.
Perez ended the second practice session in Melbourne, which was hit with rain, in seventh place.
The Mexican driver enters the race weekend as the most recent winner, as he cruised to victory in Saudi Arabia two weeks ago.
Perez is hopeful that the weather will remain dry for the remainder of the event as he believes that wet conditions could create a “dangerous” situation.
“I think tomorrow is really where we’re going to see where we’re at,” he said.
“I felt comfortable in sector one sector two, with the changes we made from FP1 to FP2. I never got a read in the final sector with the traffic and people still missing the GPS.
“I was surprised by the damp. I could feel the white lines, the paint was really bad. So hopefully we don’t get to see any damp conditions because racing can be quite dangerous.
“The grip is low in damp conditions. I think in dry conditions, it’s not too bad.”
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