After its winter hibernation, Formula One returned to competitive action in Melbourne, Australia with the first two Free Practice sessions of the year.
Lewis Hamilton dominated both Practice 1 and 2, staying around a half-second ahead of his closest challengers and it seems that Mercedes are the team to beat still, which is no surprise to anyone.
Sebastian Vettel still feels that Ferrari have more to offer over the course of the weekend, the German putting up second fastest time in the later session.
So, what do the drivers' have to say on their first proper day back at school?
Mercedes
Lewis Hamilton - 1st/1st: "It felt great [to be back]. Testing is actually quite difficult, we had some problems. That's why coming here, I didn't know if the car would still have that awkward balance we were having at the end of the test. We came here and the car was back to normal."
Valtteri Bottas - 2nd/3rd: "I got more and more comfortable in the car, especially in the long runs. The main thing for me is focussing on those short runs, getting that Qualifying pace right."
Red Bull
Daniel Ricciardo - 3rd/5th: "In the morning we looked pretty strong, and then we did try to go quicker in the afternoon. We made some changes and they probably didn't work out the way Max and myself wanted and expected."
Max Verstappen - 4th/6th: "It's quite a lot faster for the moment. Of course, at a street circuit it always improves quite a lot, so Qualifying will be even faster. It's more enjoyable to drive."
Ferrari
Sebastian Vettel - 6th/2nd: "We have had some minor issues in the morning that kept us occupied, but in the afternoon it definitely was running smoother. In regards to the balance of the car I am not fully happy; there is definitely potential to improve - and we will."
Kimi Raikkonen - 5th/4th: "We can be pleased, because overall the day didn’t go badly. We learned a lot of things and now we know in which areas we have to improve. This is a bit of an unusual track and doesn’t produce a clear picture of the situation."
Force India
Sergio Perez - 10th/11th: "The track was very green during the first session and evolved quite a lot for the second session. I think there are a few areas where we can find performance and we know where we need to focus our energy."
Esteban Ocon - 16th/13th: "I didn’t have the best start to the day with a brake issue causing a delayed start to my running, but the afternoon was easier and I managed to find a better rhythm. The priority tonight is the usual job of exploring where we need to make changes."
Williams
Lance Stroll - 13th/16th: "It is not a track I have been to before, so I can’t just go out and push to the limit. FP2 was quite a scruffy session for me. The first run was alright, but then on the second one it was a shame as there was a yellow flag so I had to abort the lap."
Felipe Massa - 7th/14th: "The track was still a little bit dirty and then suddenly we had this issue in the car. I went into neutral and couldn’t select any gears, which meant that I lost the opportunity to try the ultra-soft tyres and do any long runs."
McLaren
Stoffel Vandoorne - 20th/17th: "Obviously, I missed a little bit of running in FP1, but I think we had a very good FP2, catching up on mileage. I’m still finding time in the car on every lap, feeling more comfortable, and I’m happy that the set-up changes are going in the right direction."
Fernando Alonso - 14th/12th: "We had fewer issues today than we had in Barcelona. Every time we were on track today, though, we learned something. We were also able to test some new components, and they seem to be working fine, which is positive."
Toro Rosso
Daniil Kvyat - 12th/10th: "It’s all still very new, as it’s the first time for us here with these cars, so everyone will be looking to progress overnight and we will do the same. There is always room for improvement and I’m confident we will make a step forward for tomorrow."
Carlos Sainz - 11th/7th: "We were able to follow our programme, without suffering any issues, which was the main target for today. You can really feel that this new generation of car is much faster than last year. I’ve done the fastest lap of my life around Melbourne this afternoon, and it’s only the second practice session!"
Haas
Romain Grosjean - 8th/8th: "It’s good to be here and put the right setup on the car and go out there and have some fun. We more or less did the program we expected to do today, which is surprising for a first day in Australia, though there was a bit of trouble on the other side of the garage."
Kevin Magnussen - 17th/19th: "It was a frustrating day. I didn’t really get much out of it. It’s good to see though that the car is competitive. That’s very exciting for the season; that’s the positive to take from today.”
Renault
Nico Hulkenberg - 9th/9th: "I would say it’s been a pretty reasonable first Friday of the season and we’ve got a decent base to work from. We made some solid progress on balance and set-up and got some understanding of the tyres too. We know we can make some progress for tomorrow with everything we’ve learnt today."
Jolyon Palmer - 19th/20th: "Sadly it was a pretty short day for me in terms of time in the car. We had a minor technical issue in the first session then I had an off in FP2, which unlike FP1 required more than one part replacing. I’m not sure exactly what happened and we’ll be having a close look at the data. I feel for my crew as they have a decent amount of work to do."
Sauber
Marcus Ericsson - 15th/15th: "The car today was feeling a lot better to drive, the balance was a lot nicer. Overall, it's been a positive day - we've done a lot of laps on all the different tyre compounds we have here. We're pretty pleased with it, but of course we always want more!"
Pascal Wehrlein - 18th/18th: "Very happy to be back in the car, I couldn't wait for that moment. Now we are just focussing on the maximum performance and we tried out many things today aero wise; and it looks like we made a step forward from Barcelona.