Mercedes chief: 'Hamilton thought we were going in the wrong direction'

Mercedes drivers George Russell and Lewis Hamilton struggled with the car in the second free practice ahead of the Australian Grand Prix. Russell still finished sixth, but Hamilton only found himself in 18th place. Mercedes chief Andrew Shovlin saw that FP1 did go reasonably well.

"We had a good FP1 session. The changes we made to improve our high-speed cornering performance and reduce the bouncing after Saudi Arabia seemed to be a good step in the right direction. Overall, the car was feeling quite good," the Trackside Engineering Director told reporters after the two practice sessions.

"Unfortunately, FP2 wasn't as strong. Lewis felt that we had gone in the wrong direction with our changes. Frustratingly, they weren't quick to unwind so he had to live with that throughout the session. George found the car a bit trickier in the windier conditions of FP2 compared to earlier in the day," Shovlin said.

The damage to Russell's car didn't help either, which the Liverpool man explained. "We could have ended a bit higher up the time sheets had he [Russell] not had a bit of damage. Overall though, it's clear that we've got work to do overnight to improve the car."