Chaotic FP1 in Australia: Seven cars within a tenth, Albon causes red flag

Lando Norris was the quickest in a chaotic FP1 session in Australia. Max Verstappen finished in P2, and it was George Russell who completed the Top 3 at the first session of the weekend. The session was also cut short because of a red flag caused by Alex Albon.

Lando Norris finished FP1 in first place. The Briton's quickest lap time was 1:18.564. Max Verstappen just missed out in P1, as he finished behind Norris by only 0.018 seconds.

Lap times were especially close this session, as only 3.5-tenths separated the Top 10 drivers. Furthermore, from George Russell, who finished third, Charles Leclerc, Yuki Tsunoda, and Sergio Perez all were within a tenth of Norris’ fastest lap.

Testing the C5 tyre compound

For the first time this season, teams are going to be able to use the C5 tyre compound at a Grand Prix weekend. Teams were quick to try out these tyres, as during the winter test days in Bahrain, only Lewis Hamilton used this compound for a longer period. Red Bull and Ferrari used these tyres on their first two stints, while McLaren waited until their second stint to try them out.

Carlos Sainz returns

Two weeks after missing the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Carlos Sainz returned to racing in FP1 in Australia. The Spaniard wasted no time to enter the track, and while he had a gap to Leclerc, no messages over the team radio were played of him complaining. Sainz finished the session in eighth place.

The last time a driver had appendicitis was Alexander Albon, who had a three-week break before returning to racing, therefore, we will only find out after the rest of the practice sessions if two weeks are enough to recover.

Albon causes red flag

Entering the final third of the session, Alexander Albon lost his car exiting Turn 7 and crashed into the wall at a high speed. The Thai-British driver confirmed over the radio that he was OK, but he lost a wheel and his car got heavily damaged.

Just after the session restarted, Lewis Hamilton also went wide in Turn 1, but only yellow flags were waved for a brief moment.

Furthermore, as drivers were exiting the pit lane after the red flag, Nico Hulkenberg’s front wing patted Sainz’s Ferrari as the German tried to overtake the returning Spaniard.

Incidents in Turns 9 and 10

While Albon crashed in Sector 2, there was another dangerous corner combination on the track. It was first Fernando Alonso, who went wide exiting Turn 10, and ran through the gravel trap at a high speed. The Spaniard was lucky not to hit the wall, but Aston Martin were able to fix his floor during the session.

15 minutes after, just ahead of Albon’s crash, there were two more scary moments in Turn 9. First, it was George Russell who lost his car entering the corner, but he was able to catch his Mercedes in time. Moments later, the same thing happened to Valtteri Bottas, but the Finnish driver also did a spin and was also lucky not to crash his Stake F1 car.

This combination of corners will continue to be a talking point over the weekend, as it is right after a DRS zone, and drivers begin to take the corner as their DRS are about to close.