REPORT | Sainz fastest at Australia's return!

The Scuderia was on top as Carlos Sainz finished five-tenths of teammate, Charles Leclerc, as the Ferrari drivers finished 1 & 2 in FP1. Sergio Perez came third to round out the top positions, as teams and drivers began slowly adapting to the changes on the Australian Grand Prix circuit.

Several cars were out immediately to try and learn the new Albert Park track. Sergio Perez came out with air rakes first, testing out the wake from the new Red Bull front wing.

Early on, Lance Stroll had issues with Hamilton potentially impeding through the final corners, while Guanyu Zhou experienced the typical parking lot at the final two corners, being blocked by Carlos Sainz. George Russell also had a scary moment where he came close to a Red Bull into turn 11.

Pierre Gasly made the first unforced mistake, after briefly dipping a tyre onto the grass at turn one. However, many locked up into turn 3, with Alonso the first to go wide and visit the gravel. Worst was Kevin Magnussen, going well into the gravel traps about 35 minutes into the session, before skilfully navigating his way out.

Yellow flags were briefly shown in sector three with 20 minutes to go as Alonso spun 180 degrees out of turn 11. Charles Leclerc had a brief scare after going sideways through the gravel at turn one after a practice start in the pitlane.

The first red flag was shown 21 minutes into the session, with debris falling off the rear of Perez’s Red Bull. Sebastian Vettel brought out the second with 15 minutes left, as his car began to emulate smoke from the rear end before coming to a complete stop outside turn 12.

Teams and drivers wrapped up with a few soft tyre runs to try and see how the circuit feels in faster conditions and Leclerc had another escapade in the gravel in the final set of turns. Join us in two hours for FP2!