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Formula 1: 2018 Australian Grand Prix – Lewis Hamilton leads after Free Practice 2

By Matthew Elich

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 23: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes WO9 on track during practice for the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park on March 23, 2018 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)
MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 23: Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain driving the (44) Mercedes AMG Petronas F1 Team Mercedes WO9 on track during practice for the Australian Formula One Grand Prix at Albert Park on March 23, 2018 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images) /
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Formula 1 is back! After the second round of practice at the opening round of the 2018 Australian Grand Prix, how do the teams compare with their winter testing results? Lewis Hamilton leads the pack, but where do the other teams rank?

On a dusty track in beautiful Albert Park just a few miles south of downtown Melbourne, the first round of televised practice of the Australian Grand Prix from new broadcasting partner ESPN has ended. Even though this is the first season of the halo, it will be the 23rd Formula 1 season at the Australian venue after it took over from the Adelaide circuit in 1996.

Defending world champion Lewis Hamilton topped the second practice session with a time of 1:23.931 after his Mercedes W09 made another great outing, cementing the idea of him being the front-runner for the season. Two tenths slower at 1:24.159 was his teammate Valtteri Bottas in thirds.

Red Bull Racing took the second spot with young Max Verstappen putting in a time of 1:24.058, which was just over one tenth slower than Hamilton but slightly faster than Bottas and the closest Ferrari driver. That honor went to the rejuvenated Kimi Raikkonen, who sat at a 0.283-second deficit to Lewis Hamilton’s pace.

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Sebastian Vettel was only a two tenths of a second behind Raikkonen, and both Ferrari drivers sat within six tenth of a second of Hamilton after practice time expired. Haas’ Romain Grosjean finished the session in sixth place, and in seventh place was Daniel Ricciardo and the other Red Bull RB14.

The McLaren duo of Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne both made top 10 placements, but they were closer to one and a half seconds off the speed of Hamilton. This year’s McLaren also sees a facelift with the traditional papaya orange paint that they first entered the world championship with 50 years ago.

Nearly three seconds behind Hamilton, but also looking really nice in their new livery, were the Alfa Romeo Sauber drivers. With a white with cherry-red upper bodywork and engine cover, the new partnership has already brought the team more sponsors.

The Force India and Williams drivers were also towards the bottom of practice, as were the two rookie Toro Rosso drivers as they get used to their new Formula 1 rides.

As mentioned earlier, this is the first year with the halo safety device. It was designed to protect the drivers from debris, but there have been some side effects.

There were several in-car camera shots that were obscured by the now-mandatory device, as well as telemetry screens that now block video coverage of the drivers as they wait in their garages for deployment. This could make for some interesting conversation depending on how fans interpret the lack of image access to the drivers.

Next: Who is the greatest Formula One driver of all-time?

Qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix is Saturday, March 24th at 5:00 pm local time. The inaugural race of the 2018 season is this Sunday from 4:00 pm to 6:00 pm local time.

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