MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) – Lewis Hamilton has already delivered the faster speeds that Formula One rule changes were designed to achieve, going under the racing lap record during practice Friday for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
The three-time world champion had the fastest time in morning practice and his afternoon session time of 1 minute, 23.620 seconds was quicker than the racing mark Michael Schumacher set in winning the 2004 title at the 5.303-kilometer (3.295-mile) Albert Park Circuit.
It was only one-tenth slower than the best ever lap of Albert Park, which Sebastien Vettel set to take pole position in 2011.
“I’m super happy to be back in the car – particularly after a first day like that. It was 99 percent perfect,” Hamilton said. “We’ve shown good form so far on both the long and short runs and we got every lap done that we wanted to.”
Ferrari driver Vettel split the Mercedes cars of Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, who posted the fastest two times in the opening practice earlier Friday, with his 1:24.167 in the afternoon session.