Norris sets the pace during FP1 in Melbourne

Red Flags and gravel traps headlined the first highly-anticipated practice session of the season, as Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc made up the top three fastest of the hour.

The moment F1 fans have been waiting for since December finally arrived this afternoon when the green light lit up the pitlane to start FP1 in Melbourne. 

It was a dusty start to Liam Lawson’s first practice session as a Red Bull driver, with the Kiwi instantly testing the limits of the Albert Park circuit after reportedly kissing the wall at Turn 9. 

Lapping the track in the latter half of the timing sheets, Red Bull utilised the Red Flag relief to give the #30 car a once-over, eventually sending Lawson out to continue his medium tyre running.

Running as the 14th fastest driver, a 1:18.768s was all Lawson had to his name when a second Red Flag struck the circuit. 

This time restarting with ten minutes on the clock, Lawson ran a fair eight-tenth distance behind his teammate following his soft tyre attempts.

That remained the interval between the Red Bull pairing, with Lawson finishing FP1 in P16.

Stepping onto centre stage in Melbourne, Jack Doohan opened his Australian campaign with a string of positive improvements that landed him an early place within the top ten fastest times. 

By the time the first Red Flag of the session had arrived, the Australian had slipped down the order, with his lack of running compounded by a second lengthier delay due to a crash. 

Not risking any more time lost in the pitlane, Alpine instantly reacted to the green light by sending the young Australian out for the final ten minutes.

On the soft compound, Doohan moved into P15 with a time of 1:18.527s before besting that and his teammate to run in twelfth.

When the chequered flag fell, Doohan remained ahead of his teammate, however, rounded out his first home GP session in P13.

Thrilling the home crowd, Oscar Piastri was quick to put on a show as he completed a lap as one of the fastest three drivers on the circuit, albeit briefly as he soon returned to the pitlane.

Disrupted by the delay, Piastri’s return to the track saw him kicking up gravel at Turn 6/7 before just clinching a top ten time of 1:18.494s.

With a gap of over two-tenths to Lando Norris, the final ten minutes of the session saw Piastri putting things right for the Australian crowd when he boosted his McLaren into the top three with a time of 1:17.670s.

As the chequered flag fell, Piastri’s own teammate had knocked him out of top three contention, leaving the Australian to finish his first home display in P4.

Forgetting his move to a supposed back-marker team, Carlos Sainz found himself in familiar territory during the opening stages of FP1, sharing the top five with the like of his Ferrari replacement, and the man of the moment, Lewis Hamilton.

Rolling out of the pitlane with all eyes on the #44, Hamilton showed an instant comfort with the SF25, a sentiment echoed by Charles Leclerc who worked to steal the top time from Mercedes and McLaren.

Their flow was brought to a momentary pause, however, when gravel on the racing line between Turns 6 and 7 led to a short-lived Red Flag.

The session restarted with 35 minutes on the clock as the grid picked up right where they left off.

Max Verstappen was the first driver to make the switch to the soft compound tyre, shooting to the top of the order, but only by one-tenth.

Following the leader, George Russell also emerged on the red-marked tyre and nearly matched the reigning World Champion’s lap, however, with the rumoured 15 new components on the Red Bull, 20 milliseconds remained the difference.

Continuing to make his presence known, Sainz joined the pair on the C5, collecting the fastest first and final sector and moving into the lead.

Speeding straight off at Turn 9, Ollie Bearman brought the session to another pause after his huge shunt saw wheels flying and carbon fibre spraying across the circuit.

Bearman was ok, his car not so much as it was towed back to the pitlane where his fellow competitors were impatiently waiting.

FP1 restarted with ten minutes on the clock, with soft tyre runs as the sole focus of the final stages.

On the C5, Carlos Sainz came ever-so-close to finishing his first session with Williams on top, however, his party was spoiled by Norris, with the McLaren driver recording the benchmark of 1:17.252s, while Charles Leclerc took the chequered flag in third.

The field will go again this afternoon for Free Practice 2 at 4:00 PM.

Image: Glenn Dunbar/LAT Images

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