Championship leader Max Verstappen was quickest in a frantic and incident filled first practice session for the Australian Grand Prix despite a late spin.
The Red Bull driver went quickest by four tenths of a second over Lewis Hamilton and the second Red Bull off Sergio Perez. Verstappen’s final flying lap saw him spin at the exit of turn four, briefly facing backwards off the track, but he was able to continue.
Sunny skies over Melbourne greeted drivers as they ventured out around Albert Park for the first time in the weekend, with relatively mild temperatures of 18C ambient and track temperature at 31C. With the threat of rain for the day’s second practice session, drivers were quick to head out and make the most of the opening hour.
In the early minutes, Red Bull set the early pace with Perez posting a 1’20.267, a full second ahead of team mate Verstappen. Hamilton went second fastest for Mercedes, less than half a tenth behind Perez, before Verstappen went comfortably fastest with a 1’19.332 on soft tyres.
There were many complaints of porpoising through the field early in the session, with Mercedes’ Hamilton, Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Williams’ Logan Sargeant all reporting bouncing along the straights in their cars. Not unusually, Verstappen was unhappy with the quality of the gear shifts on his Red Bull, while Kevin Magnussen brought out the first yellow flag of the weekend by running wide at turn three and taking to the gravel.
After the initial runs, the track fell quiet as cars returned to the garage. The two Ferrari drivers, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jnr moved into third and fourth, half a second behind the Red Bulls.
As the session reached the midway point, teams began sending their drivers out on soft tyres. Yuki Tsunoda suffered a high-speed spin at the first corner, bouncing over the gravel on the exit of the corner, but avoiding making contact with the barriers. Perez’s first flying lap on the softs was ruined by a mistake on the exit of turn four, causing him to back off.
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