Collecting data as main objective

Melbourne - Nico Hulkenberg finished 18th in Free Practice I of the season opener in Melbourne. But it was not the laptime, but the collected data which were the main objective.

During his 20 laps the Force India driver especially tried to learn more about the tyres. "Driving with just one set of tyres was pretty difficult," the 23 year old said. "But I could collect some good data."

Therefore it did not really matter that "The Hulk's" personal best time of 1:31.002 minutes was 4.171 seconds slower than the session's quickest time driven by Mark Webber (Red Bull).

"I am happy to have driven here in Melbourne again," Hulkenberg commented. "I got some good laps in and had a lot of fun."

Behind Webber it were Sebastian Vettel (Red Bull, +0.327) and Fernando Alonso (Ferrari, +0.918) to finish 2nd and 3rd.