Mexico City: Friday Quotes

Mexico City: Friday Practice 2 Times

Great Britain quickest in free practice

Italy leads the way in rookie practice

Mexico City: Friday Practice 1 (Rookies) Times

Mexico City: Nominated Drivers

Lewis Hamilton says he will drive more cautiously this year in pursuit of the Formula One title.

F1 drivers have jumped to the defence of the Australian Grand Prix after the future of the event was called into question over a disagreement between organisers at Albert Park and Bernie Ecclestone over whether the event should become a night race.

Heikki Kovalainen says he is 'very happy' at McLaren, despite being a full second off team mate Lewis Hamilton's pace on the first day of practice this season, at Albert Park. He also insists he is on an equal footing in the team with Hamilton.

Kimi Raikkonen completed the fastest lap on Friday in Melbourne. The Finn completed his fastest lap on the medium compound, supplied by Formula One's official tyre supplier Bridgestone. The Japanese tyre manufacturer though expects the softer compound should be even faster.

Sebastien Bourdais is quickly trying to get used to his new surroundings in F1. The four-time consecutive Champ Car champion completed his first day of practice at the Albert Park circuit finishing 20th after some problems with his car prevented him covering more than 11 laps.

McLaren terminates Coughlan's contract

Nelson Piquet would have hoped for a better start of his career in Formula One. During the first free practice session Piquet spun his car at Ascari, which is a fast right-hander. In his spin Piquet damaged his gearbox which meant a lot of work for the team to fix it in order to continue the scheduled programme in the second free practice session.

No concerns for Bridgestone

Australian GP: Friday Press Conference

A solid start for McLaren

A difficult start for Renault

So far so good for Toro Rosso

A "very good day" for Force India

Mixed emotions at Ferrari

Red Bull giving little away re practice pace

McLaren terminate the employment of chief designer Mike Coughlan, the man at the centre of last year's spy scandal.

Honda: Too early to tell

Even though Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen completed the fastest lap of the day he is not happy yet with the car's performance. After the second practice session Raikkonen said he was still struggling a bit and he has yet to find the right set-up for the car.

The 2008 season got underway in Melbourne today with the first two practice sessions for this weekend's curtain-raiser, the Australian Grand Prix. Honda Racing drivers Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello were upbeat after concluding a solid day of set-up work to fine-tune the RA108 to the demands of the Albert Park circuit conditions. Button and Barrichello ended the day in 11th and 14th positions.

Lewis Hamilton started his second season in Formula 1 on Friday morning and showed a promising performance. In Friday's first free practice Hamilton completed the second fastest lap while in the second free practice session the Briton completed the fastest lap. After today's free practice sessions Hamilton admitted to be impressed by his main opposition.

For Heikki Kovalainen Friday's first free practice session was a unique moment. The Finn began his second season as Formula 1 driver and his first Grand Prix weekend for the McLaren Formula One team. Kovalainen enjoyed his first outing in Melbourne and made some good progress with the car.

The Force India Formula 1 team began its first Formula 1 weekend today in Melbourne. Italian driver Giancarlo Fisichella showed the team made a lot of progress over the winter as Fisichella posted the 9th fastest time in Friday's second free practice session.

The 2008 Formula 1 season got off to a good start for the Red Bull Racing team. Both Mark Webber and David Coulthard managed to complete the laps with competitive lap times. Webber was even second fastest at Friday's second free practice session at his home Grand Prix.

Lewis Hamilton is fastest in one of Friday's practice sessions at the Australian Grand Prix, with Kimi Raikkonen topping the other.

BMW in good shape for Saturday

The BMW Sauber Formula 1 team completed a reasonable day in Melbourne. Nick Heidfeld's car stopped with 30 minutes to go in the first session due to an electrical power cut, but in the afternoon the German was able to complete his programme as scheduled.

Some would have probably not expected to see the Super Aguri in Melbourne. The team struggled the last couple of months with its financial problems, but at the start of this week the team announced it was sold to a group of investors and thus the team's future was secured. On track though the team knows there is still a lot of work to do.

Gearbox problems for Williams

A difficult day for Super Aguri

Toyota drivers Jarno Trulli and Timo Glock ended in the top ten in both the first and second free practice session on Friday in Melbourne. But even though they showed the pace is there they aren't satisfied just yet with getting the right balance in the car. Trulli and Glock will have an hour of free practice on Saturday morning to get things right for Saturday's qualifying and Sunday's race.

A positive day for Toyota

Australian GP: Friday Free 2 - Times

McLaren driver Lewis Hamilton completed the fastest lap in Friday's second free practice session in Melbourne. The 23-year-old Briton completed his fastest lap in 1.26.599 and was almost a second faster than the second fastest man Mark Webber. Webber's team-mate Coulthard also surprised a few to complete the fifth fastest time of the day.

Hamilton heads Webber in second session

McLaren F1 team boss Ron Dennis has said he was close on standing down from his position as the team's team boss. The Briton though decided to stay for at least another year as he has still something to contribute he said in Melbourne.

Scuderia Toro Rosso driver Sebastien Bourdais will enjoy his first Formula One race on Sunday in Melbourne. The French four-time ChampCar champion doesn't expect his team to be competitive enough to score points every race, but every point he scores will feel like a race win he said in Melbourne.

Honda passes crash test

Honda driver Jenson Button believes his Honda Formula 1 car is not competitive just yet to start scoring points from the opening round in Melbourne. The Briton does expect though the team will face a more competitive season than last year when the team was unable to impress.

Australian GP: Friday Free 1 - Times

Defending champion Kimi Raikkonen began his 2008 season the way he finished his championship winning seaon: on top of the time sheets. The Ferrari driver completed his fastest lap at Albert Park in 1.26.461, which was almost half a second faster than Lewis Hamilton.

Raikkonen quickest in opening session