Hamilton aware: "I don't think we will be competing against the Red Bull"

"This morning was good, this afternoon wasn't so good," Hamilton told Sky Sports, "this morning felt a little bit better, we made some changes that didn't work so we will revise those tonight, and then it rained so it wasn't the greatest of sessions."

The conditions did not play into any drivers' hands, which is something that the Brit noted led to traffic on track, he said: "You don't learn a huge amount when it's in between, just keep the car safe. Traffic is always an issue here, more so in FP1, I think everyone had troubles. Hopefully, that won't happen again, and we won't get in each other's way."

To round out, Hamilton explained his feelings about what is possible over the rest of the weekend for the team, "I don't think we will be competing against the Red Bulls, just about seeing if we can get up as high as possible. We have the pace to get into 5th area, same as the last race."

Russell looking ahead positively

Russell had a lighter look on his Friday in Australia but was still conscious of where the team still stands, he explained: "FP2 was a bit frustrating for everyone with the weather coming in surprisingly, it was a reasonable session for us. We made a step from FP1, which is a good thing. Let's see what tomorrow brings with the weather."

The Brit ended by explaining his thoughts on the performance and what might happen in qualifying, he said: "We made a lot of set-up changes over the break and made some good steps recently, changing some things and getting the car into a nice window which is satisfying knowing we've contributed as a team towards that. Let's see how it translates into tomorrow, but FP1, I wasn't happy, FP2 pretty happy, not too bad."