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Lando Norris set the pace for McLaren during Friday’s first free practice session for the Australian Grand Prix, leading the way ahead of Red Bull rival Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ George Russell.
A bright, sunny hour of practice at Albert Park saw plenty of wild moments and off-track excursions as drivers regained speed through the streets of Melbourne and an initially dusty surface was steadily cleared.
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The biggest of those moments came with about 20 minutes to go, when Alex Albon applied too much braking coming out of Turn 7 and was unable to prevent his Williams from being spit into the wall on the other side of the track.
Although Albon radioed that he was fine after stopping at Turn 8, having backed up around the circuit, his banged car and the many pieces of carbon fiber that had come off meant the session was suspended with a red flag for several minutes.
When action resumed, a flurry of drivers returned on soft tires in a bid to improve their times and eclipse Norris’ existing P1 benchmark, but the latter narrowly held onto top spot (0.018s ahead of Verstappen) with his 1m 18,564. s effort on the rubber marked in red.
Charles Leclerc led the Ferrari charge in fourth, with Yuki Tsunoda in fifth for RB thanks to a timely run on the softs, followed by the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez in sixth and the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll in seventh. .
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Carlos Sainz marked his return from appendicitis-related surgery in eighth, just under a tenth behind team-mate Leclerc, with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton ninth when he reported suspected floor damage after passing through over the curbs in turn 10.
Other drivers who had incidents at the high-speed chicane at Turn 9/10 included Hamilton’s teammate Russell with a dramatic spin, Kick Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas with a spin and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso with a trip through. of gravel.
Verstappen was also caught exploring the limits in the closing stages of the session while attacking the Turn 9/10 sequence and reported that “I bottomed out pretty hard there”, although with no apparent consequences.
Local favorites Oscar Piastri and Daniel Ricciardo finished P10 and P11 for McLaren and RB respectively, with sidelined Albon in 12th, Kevin Magnussen, leader Haas in 13th and the other Williams of Logan Sargeant in 14th.
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Alpine had another quiet start to the weekend, as Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly placed 15th and 17th respectively, separated by the second Haas machine of Nico Hulkenberg, who was seen hitting Sainz’s car at the back of the pit lane.
Alonso was in 18th place after a floor change, while Kick Sauber brought up the rear with Zhou Guanyu and the aforementioned Bottas in P19 and P20; The drivers and their teams now prepare for a couple of hours of post-session learning before the second practice.