Australian Grand Prix Practice

Dave Robson, Head of Vehicle Performance: We have spent today concentrating on the new circuit layout and the behaviour of the tyre on the new surface. The track remains challenging and exciting, with plenty of fast corners and changes of direction. The tyre behaviour was quite good in FP1 but changed a little in FP2 as the track grip improved and the temperature dropped. We haven’t made the most of the Qualifying compound yet and so we certainly have some work to do with that. Otherwise, the balance wasn’t too bad by FP2 and each driver has only some fine tuning to do overnight. Alex Albon: It’s a cool circuit here in Melbourne; the track is a lot of fun to drive and the fans have been incredible. Today could have gone a little better, but we made a good step up between FP1 and FP2 so we’re going in the right direction and we know what we need to focus on. We’ll continue the work tonight, and hopefully we’re in a stronger place for Qualifying tomorrow. Nicholas Latifi: It was a pretty fun first day getting to experience the Albert Park track as it’s my first time driving here. It’s very fast, especially where they’ve made changes to the track; it’s got a street track vibe in some corners, and a little more technical than I was expecting, but I think lap by lap we were gaining confidence. Still a lot of gains to be made with the driving and the car. Hopefully we’ll make some good changes overnight to put us in a better position for tomorrow.