Lewis Hamilton hailed Mercedes’ progress since the conclusion of pre-season testing as he led the way during Friday practice for the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park.
Hamilton clocked the quickest time in both sessions, concluding the day with a time of 1:23.620, set on the Ultra Soft tyres, to finish 0.547s clear of Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.
The Briton had adopted a cautious tone after encountering some issues during pre-season testing, but was encouraged by the pace of his W08 around the streets of Melbourne as the new campaign got underway.
“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,” said Hamilton.
“It was 99 per cent perfect. 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.”
Hamilton’s new Mercedes team-mate, Valtteri Bottas, finished third overall, just 0.009s shy of Vettel.
“It was great to be back on track after Barcelona and overall it was a good day today,” he commented.
“We still have work to do with the car balance but we got all of our running completed without any issues.
“From my side I definitely feel like I can make a step forward tomorrow. It'll be a busy evening for us tonight looking through all the data to see where we can improve but it's a reasonable start.
“In terms of our pace, it is only practice, so tomorrow we'll find out exactly where we are.”
