Hamilton: Stoppage was a one-off

Editor 14 Mar 2014 8:22 AM

Lewis Hamilton is confident he will not suffer a repeat of the problem that brought his W05 to a halt on his installation lap in Friday’s first practice…

Lewis Hamilton is confident he will not suffer a repeat of the problem that brought his W05 to a halt on his installation lap in Friday’s first practice.

Heading out for the start of the Australian Grand Prix weekend, Hamilton came to a halt on his very first lap.

The Mercedes driver coasted to a stop at Turn 9 with an oil pressure alarm forcing an engine shutdown.

The team later revealed that it was an “sensor calibration problem” that caused the alarm.

“I think it was a one-off [problem],” he told ESPNF1.

“We were one of the only ones to stop, but I think over this season you will see various hiccups like that, but hopefully that issue will not be an issue for us [again].”

Back in his Mercedes for the second practice session, the British driver hit the front on the soft Pirelli tyres.

Clocking a 1:29.625 during his 37 laps, Hamilton finished the day 0.157s up on his team-mate Nico Rosberg in Merc’s first 1-2 of the season.

“We got a nice foundation in FP2 and I hope I can build on that in FP3 and see where we end up in qualifying,” he continued.

“We got good data, a good understanding of what’s going on on-track with the car and fuel and all that kind of stuff. It feels positive and I’m just glad I got through it.

“Tomorrow we will get a much better understanding of what fuel loads people are on and where everyone stands.”