With the first and second practice session ahead of the Australian Grand Prix done and dusted at 5 :30 this afternoon, local time, ย Formula 1 has officially started its 2017 season.
For the Sauber F1 Team it was a productive day with lots of data gathering on both Sauber C36-Ferrari.
In FP1 the focus was on aero testing, while short and long runs were on the programme for FP2 in the afternoon.
Marcus Ericsson and Pascal Wehrlein completed 59 and 52 laps overall.
โOverall it's been a positive day for us,' Marcus said. โDuring testing in Barcelona we were not completely happy with the balance of the car. After analysing all the data, we have made a step forward as I feel more comfortable in the car here in Melbourne. Today we managed to run a good number of laps on different tyre compounds, so overall it's been a nice start into the weekend.โ
โI am not fully satisfied with my first practice sessions today,' added Pascal. โWe are still working on finding a suitable set-up for the car, but it was positive that we have gathered some good data in both practice sessions. Now we need to focus on tomorrow in order to reach further improvements.โ