Rosberg kickstarts 2015 season by topping FP1 in Australia - MotorSportsTalk

Picking up where Mercedes left off at the end of 2014, Nico Rosberg has finished fastest in the first practice session for this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, heading up a Silver Arrows one-two on Friday ahead of teammate Lewis Hamilton.

The German driver posted a fastest lap time of 1:29.557 to finish just 0.029 seconds clear of Hamilton at the top of the timesheets in a rather quiet start to the 2015 F1 season.

Most of the teams opted for limited running, opting to ensure that all of the systems were working properly ahead of FP2 on Friday afternoon instead of completing any extensive mileage in the first session.

Just as it had done in winter testing, Mercedes gapped the field by over one second, with Williams’ Valtteri Bottas slotting into third place in the final standings. Toro Rosso’s all-rookie line-up of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Max Verstappen took advantage of their first session in 2015 to complete 60 laps in total, finishing fourth and sixth respectively.

Sebastian Vettel’s first session as a Ferrari driver saw him finish fifth, with teammate Kimi Raikkonen ending up eighth on the timesheets as the team bids to bounce back from its disastrous 2014 campaign.

However, at the back of the grid, Sauber and Manor were less fortunate. Amid a legal row with ex-reserve driver Giedo van der Garde, Sauber opted not to run in first practice for fear of worsening the situation ahead of the resumption of the court hearing ahead of FP2. To make a statement, both Marcus Ericsson and Felipe Nasr sat in their cars for the first half of the session before eventually retiring to their driver rooms.

As expected, Manor was unable to run during first practice after further issues with the cars arose on Friday. It is thought that the team only has one front wing and nose in Melbourne, and sporting director Graeme Lowdon remained coy when asked whether the team would be on track at any point this weekend.

McLaren’s tough start to life with Honda power continued in FP1, with a mechanical issue cutting the team’s session short.

We’ve brought the curtain down early on our #FP1 running to check over a small mechanical issue with a power-unit component. #AusGP

— McLaren (@McLarenF1) March 13, 2015

Otherwise, there was very little else to be gleaned from the first session of the 2015 season. Most of the teams will be looking to complete more extensive and representative running in FP2 later today, but for the time being, it appears that the advantage still lies with Mercedes at the front.

Be sure to join us for FP2 live on NBCSN and Live Extra from 1:30a ET on Friday, with the session being streamed live here.

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The final results from the Monster Energy Supercross race in Seattle suggests the season is turning into a two-rider battle as Eli Tomac scored his sixth win of the season to tie Cooper Webb for the points’ lead and Chase Sexton crashed in yet another race.

Tomac downplayed the neck strain that caused him to lose the red plate for two weeks, but without that holding him back, it would appear it might have been a bigger problem than he admitted. Despite finishing on the podium in Detroit, Tomac has not shown the late-race strength everyone has come to expect. He was in a slump after scoring a season-worst in Indianapolis and described his sixth win as a “bounce back”.

With this win, Tomac tied James Stewart for second on the all-time list with 50 career Supercross victories. Six rounds remain and there is no sign that Tomac is slowing down. Jeremy McGrath’s 72 wins remains untouchable, for the moment at least.

RESULTS: Click here for full 450 Overall Results; Click here for 250 Overall Results

Cooper Webb was disappointed with second-place, but he recognized the Supercross results at Seattle could have been much worse. He rode in fifth for the first nine laps of the race, behind Tomac and Sexton. When Sexton crashed from the lead and Tomac took the top spot, Webb knew he could not afford to give up that many points and so he dug deep and found enough points to share the red plate when the series returns in two weeks in Glendale, Arizona for a Triple Crown event.

Justin Barcia scored his third podium of the season, breaking out of a threeway tie of riders who have not been the presumed favorites to win the championship. Barcia scored the podium without drama or controversy. It was his fourth consecutive top-five and his 10th straight finish of eighth or better.

Click here for 450 Heat 1 | Heat 2 | Last Chance Qualifier | Lap Chart

Jason Anderson kept his perfect record of top-10s alive with a fourth-place finish. Tied for fourth in the standings and 49 out of the lead, his season has been like a death of a thousand cuts. He’s ridden exceptionally well, but the Big Three have simply been better.

Sexton rebounded from his fall to finish fifth. He entered the race 17 points out of the lead and lost another five in Seattle. Mistakes have cost Sexton 22 points in the last three races and that is precisely how far he is behind Tomac and Webb. Unless those two riders bobble, this deficit cannot overcome.

The rider who ties Anderson for fourth in the points, Ken Roczen finished just outside the top five in sixth after he battled for a podium position early in the race.

Click here for 450 Overall results | Rider Points | Manufacturer Points

The 250 West riders got back in action after four rounds of sitting on the sideline and Jett Lawrence picked up where he left of: in Victory Lane. Lawrence now has four wins and a second-place finish in five rounds. One simply doesn’t get close to perfection than that.

Between them, the Lawrence brothers have won all but two races though 11 rounds. Jett failed to win the Anaheim Triple Crown and Hunter Lawrence failed to win the Arlington Triple Crown format in the 250 East division. In two weeks, the series has their final Triple Crown race in Glendale. When he was reminded of this from the top of the Seattle podium, Jett replied, “oof”.

Click here for 250 Heat 1 | Heat 2 | Last Chance Qualifier | Lap Chart

RJ Hampshire finished second in the race and is second in the points. This is fourth time in five rounds that Hampshire finished second to Lawrence. If not for a crash-induced 11th-place finish in the Arlington Triple Crown, he would be much closer in the points standings. With that poor showing, he is 23 points behind Lawrence.

Cameron McAdoo made a lot of noise in his heat. Riding aggressively beside Larwence, the two crashed in the preliminary. McAdoo could never seem to get away from Hampshire in the Main and as the two battled, the leader got away. It would have been interesting to see how they would have raced head-to-head when points were on the line.

Click here for 250 Overall results | 250 West Rider Points | 250 Combined Rider Points

The Supercross results in Seattle were kind to a couple of riders on the cusp of the top five. Enzo Lopes scored his second top-five and fourth top-10 of the season after crossing the finish line fourth in Seattle.

Tying his best finish of the season for the third time, Max Vohland kept his perfect record of top-10s alive. Vohland is seventh in the points.

2023 Results

Round 11: Eli Tomac bounces back with sixth win
Round 10: Chace Sexton wins, penalized
Round 9: Ken Roczen wins
Round 8: Eli Tomac wins 7th Daytona
Round 7: Cooper Webb wins second race
Race 6: Eli Tomac, Jett Lawrence win
Race 5: Webb, Hunter Lawrence win
Race 4: Tomac, H Lawrence win
Race 3: Chase Sexton, Levi Kitchen win
Race 2: Tomac, J Lawrence win
Round 1: Tomac, J Lawrence win