McLaren starts Melbourne weekend on a high in FP1

Lando Norris has given the Australian McLaren fans something to smile about as he put his MCL38 at the top of the timing sheets in FP1, ending the session marginally ahead of Verstappen and Russell to kick off his Australian Grand Prix. 

Sporting aero-racks, it was no surprise to see the always-eager Fernando Alonso heading the queue of cars in the pitlane.

As the light went green, he wasn’t alone in hurrying out, with the Sauber drivers joining him as they passed those awaiting a weekend-commencing practice start.

The first driver unhappy with their set-up was George Russell who was complaining of brake issues on his out-lap. 

Not long after, Lewis Hamilton backed his teammate up, also reporting of a long brake pedal.

Once the first round of timed laps had been set, however, it was Hamilton who held the top spot with a time of 1:20.866s, closely followed by Charles Leclerc and home-town hero Oscar Piastri.

Piastri has a dicey moment at Turn 10, wrestling his MCL38 as he began testing its limits around the Albert Park street track.

On Carlos Sainz’s first lap back in the Ferrari since his appendicitis surgery, the Spaniard was expectedly off the pace, sitting 1.6 seconds back on his teammate.

His second run was closer, however, still a significant nine-tenths behind Leclerc. 

Carlos Sainz returns to the grid during FP1 at the Australian GP. Image: Mark Sutton / Sutton Images.

The Monegasque kept making bounds, improving lap on lap to extend the leading margin on the timing sheets. 

Max Verstappen, a late starter to the session, finally brought his RB20 up to pace.

Verstappen set three fastest sectors across the 5.2km lap, lodging a time of 1:18.670s that was over four-tenths faster than Leclerc.

Pierre Gasly made his way back to the pitlane, his Alpine mechanics putting their heads down as they began working on the A524 for the next ten minutes.

At the 20-minute mark, Yuki Tsunoda found his VCARB 01 within the top five fastest times.

Fan-favourite Daniel Ricciardo was not too far behind, sitting two-tenths behind his RB teammate in P7.

The #22 soon found himself in P2, just under four-tenths behind Verstappen.

Alonso took a high-speed trip through a gravel trap, his Aston Martin violently bouncing through the run-off area after missing the apex at Turn 10. 

He returned to the pits for a substantial amount of time, joining the majority of drivers who had also retreated. 

After bottoming out on the run down to Turn 9, Norris asked his team to check the floor of his McLaren.

Lando Norris during FP1 at the Australian GP. Image: Mark Sutton / Sutton Images.

Despite this, the #4 immediately jumped to the top of the order with the new fastest time of 1:18.564s.

Lance Stroll, after setting the fastest time in the opening minutes of the session, jumped into P2, soon accompanied by Yuki Tsunoda in the top three.

George Russell had a massive snap of oversteer at Turn 10, with Valtteri Bottas falling victim to the same corner.

With those two drivers continuing on their way, a bigger incident happened down at Turn 7.

Alex Albon near-recreated the incident that took him out of last year’s Australian Grand Prix, bottoming out at Turn 7 and streaming straight for the wall on his right. 

After taking heavy frontal contact which saw the entire front wing and right front wheel of his Williams destroyed, the car then headed for the other side of the track.

Still at speed, the #23 Williams was spat into the wall at Turn 8, with the rear of the car slamming into the wall putting his gearbox in jeopardy. 

The session was red-flagged, seeing the clock ticking down as the drivers waited in their garages.

With 10 minutes remaining, the cars headed back out on track, with the Australian clean-up crew working at double speed to clear the mess.

In the pitlane, however, Hulkenberg tried to cut the line with the move backfiring on the Haas driver who tapped Sainz’s Ferrari with his front wing.

Amongst the cars piling out onto the circuit was Alonso, with the Aston Martin crew fixing the damage from his earlier run across the gravel. 

Fernando Alonso leaves the garage during FP1 at the Australian GP. Image: Zak Mauger / LAT Images.

Opening his first post-red flag run, Hamilton fell victim to a snap of oversteer, running in hot across the grass at Turn 1.

Verstappen also had a moment, aborting his lap after aggressively mounting the kerb at Turn 10. 

The misfortune continued for Red Bull, with Perez experiencing a major lock-up into Turn 13.

As the minutes ticked down, the order at the top remained relatively unchanged, with Lando Norris’ time of 1:18.564s holding its own by the chequered flag.

On his final run, Verstappen failed to even set a personal best, however, the Dutchman still improved.

The three-time world champion demoted Leclerc into P3, taking the second-fastest time just 0.018 seances behind Norris.

P3 wasn’t to be Leclerc’s, however, with a late lap from Russell being 3 milliseconds quicker than the Ferrari. 

Our Australians ended the opening practice session in P10 and P11, and with the added booster of both their teammates doing well, they’ll head into FP2 full of unlocked potential.

Free Practice 2 kicks off at 4:00 PM.

Free Practice 2 Results: