McLaren’s Oscar Piastri completed the first day of the new Formula One season in first place after practice for the Australian Grand Prix on Friday.
The Australian was 0.214 seconds faster than Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, whose team-mate George Russell was third, ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc.
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Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was sixth, ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris and 18-year-old British rookie Arvid Lindblad, who had a strong first day of F1 racing for the Bulls.
Aston Martin, who had been the story of the weekend due to a major problem with their Honda engine, fared better after just three laps in first practice.
Fernando Alonso missed the first session due to engine vibration problems, but still managed 17 laps but was 4.933 seconds behind.
His team principal Adrian Newey, who revealed Honda’s problems in two special press conferences on consecutive days, explained on Friday how the situation was affecting Alonso and how their engine partners found themselves struggling so much.
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Rounding out the top ten were second Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar and Haas’ Esteban Ocon, with his British teammate Oliver Bearman in 11th.
It’s likely that the title lap times don’t really reflect the overall pace, as the top teams all completed their laps at different times in the race – Mercedes relatively early and Piastri later, when the track would have been faster.
In simulated racing late in the race, Mercedes appeared to have a significant advantage over Ferrari, the only top team running the same hard tyres.
However, Mercedes’ plan allowed them to do more laps.
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Red Bull and McLaren use medium and soft tires in the race.
Top 10
1. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) – 1:19.729
2. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.214
3. George Russell (Mercedes) +0.320
4. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.321
5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.562
6. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.637
7. Lando Norris (McLaren) +1.065
8. Arvid Lindblad (Bulls) +1.193
9. Isaac Hajar (Red Bull) +1.212
10. Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1.450
