The F1 cars are finally back out on track in Melbourne as practice for this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix continues at Albert Park. Follow live updates below!
All Aussie eyes are on the debut of hometown hero Oscar Piastri, with big questions over whether he can get his McLaren into the top 10 in Saturday’s qualifying as he did in Saudi Arabia.
But at the front it’s all about the Red Bulls – how close any of their competitors are to them, and whether Sergio Perez is a true title challenger for Max Verstappen.
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AUSTRALIAN GP RACE CENTRE: Live timings, updates and video
Verstappen & Perez get a little weird | 02:09
12:30PM to 1:30PM – FIRST PRACTICE WRAP
The F1 weekend got underway in Melbourne with everyone except McLaren’s Lando Norris getting out on track in the opening 10 minutes.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton complained of bouncing in the early stages, in a worrying sign of a potential return to the team’s 2022 woes.
The Red Bulls quickly shot up to the top of the leaderboard with Max Verstappen fastest through the first two sectors, then going wide to see him 0.5 seconds slower than teammate Sergio Perez in the final sector. It still allowed the reigning champion to post a fastest time of 1:19.278.
“We are dragging the rear brakes too much, that’s the problem,” Verstappen said on team radio.
Meanwhile on F1 TV commentary former Renault driver Jolyon Palmer ranted over the need to have three practice sessions in the first place – with two on Friday and one on Saturday – calling for a reduction.
“What is the point in all this practice?” he said.
“Stay tuned, it’s riveting, but for the engineers they love it. Everyone in the garage they love this stuff – find out data, painting your sidepods, great time to learn soemting about your car. but really everyone has so much data now pre-event, so they know the track surface, what it’s going to be like … you know what the curbs are like.
“Car setups, they’re only fine-tuning most of the time from the moment you arrive on the weekend. My debut in 2016, never seen the place, Friday was a washout, did about 3 laps in the wet, and was almost blind going into Saturday but was absolutely fine.
“You learn the track in an hour. You’re used to doing less in Formula 2.”
Hamilton was left fuming when, on a fast lap, he nearly collided with an AlphaTauri driver at the end of the back straight who was plodding along warming up his tyres.
“That’s dangerous driving by a driver,” he said.
There was more chaos as Yuki Tsunoda spun off at turn one and there were nearly crashes at the last corner and at the end of the back straight due to heavy traffic.
A red flag was then flown due to GPS issues causing a delay of around 12 minutes.
But even the fastest man on track Verstappen couldn’t avoid the chaos with a spin at turn four which saw huge clouds of smoke as he narrowly avoided the wall.
“Ah, these tyres are completely f***ed now,” he said on the radio.
Logan Sargeant had to park his Williams near the end of the track after the car “shut off” with another red flag emerging to draw an end to the session.
Just before the red flag flew Hamilton went second-fastest on nine-lap old soft tyres showing how long they were taking to come in, and how low the degredation was.
PRACTICE 1 – FINAL STANDINGS
1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull (1:18.790)
2. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes (+0.433)
3. Sergio Perez, Red Bull (+0.503)
4. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin (+0.527)
5. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari (+0.588)
6. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari (+0.715)
7. Lando Norris, McLaren (+0.746)
8. Pierre Gasly, Alpine (+0.856)
9. George Russell, Mercedes (+0.909)
10. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin (+0.976)
11. Alex Albon, Williams (+0.976)
12. Oscar Piastri, McLaren (+0.987)
13. Nico Hulkenberg, Haas (+1.016)
14. Nyck De Vries, AlphaTauri (+1.143)
15. Logan Sargeant, Williams (+1.284)
16. Esteban Ocon, Alpine (+1.385)
17. Yuki Tsunoda, AlphaTauri (+1.609)
18. Valtteri Bottas, Alfa Romeo (+1.629)
19. Guanyu Zhou, Alfa Romeo (+1.779)
20. Kevin Magnussen, Haas (+2.357)
Williams hopping to vault into midfield | 02:41
12PM – AUSSIE THREATENS ALBERT PARK HISTORY WITH PRACTICE POLE
No local has ever even recorded a podium finish at the Australian Grand Prix – and while it’s unlikely in the Formula 1 race this weekend, we’ve got a big chance in Formula 2.
Jack Doohan, the son of motorsport great Mick, was clearly fastest in practice on Friday morning posting a 1:28.989 in his Invicta Virtuosi Racing machine, which was three tenths faster than anyone else in the field.
The gap between Doohan and second-placed Isack Hadjar was bigger than the gap between Hadjar and seventh-placed Ayumu Iwasa.
Doohan finished sixth in the F2 championship last season with two sprint race wins in Britain and Hungary plus a feature race win in Belgium.
He also sits sixth in the F2 championship through two rounds this year after a second-place finish in the Saudi Arabia feature race.
The Alpine reserve will be hopeful of taking advantage of the competition’s debut in the southern hemisphere with a home race win on Saturday (sprint race, 2:20pm) or Sunday (feature race, 11:35am).
Qualifying will be held late on Friday (from 5:30pm).
11:30AM – HAMILTON REVEALS BIG CONCERN WITH MERCEDES
Lewis Hamilton’s concerns with Mercedes’ W14 have continued to emerge, with the seven-time world champion declaring the team purposefully created a car which delivers one of “the worst feelings” possible.
While the team has gone back to the drawing board for their next car already, Hamilton and George Russell will have to deal with the flawed design through the rest of 2023.
For Hamilton, the decision to place the Mercedes drivers as far forward in the machine as possible is creating concerns.
“If you look at the past, I’ve always enjoyed an oversteering car,” he said on Thursday.
“I don’t know if people know, but we sit closer to the front wheels than all the other drivers. Our cockpit is too close to the front.
“When you’re driving, you feel like you’re sitting on the front wheels, which is one of the worst feelings to feel when you’re driving a car.
“What that does is it just really changes the attitude of the car and how you perceive its movement.
“It makes it harder to predict compared to when you’re further back and you’re sitting closer, more centre. It’s just something I really struggle with.”
Hamilton said had he known how bad it would feel in the car, he would’ve told the team to tweak their plans.
“I listen to the team and that was a direction that they said that we should go. Had I known the feeling that I would have in it, it wouldn’t have happened,” he said.
“It has to change for the future. 100%.”
FRIDAY SCHEDULE (ALL TIMES AEDT)
12:30pm – 1:30pm: Formula One Practice 1
2:00pm – 2:30pm: Formula 3 Qualifying
2:55pm – 3:30pm: Supercars Race 5
4pm – 5pm: Formula One Practice 2
5:30pm – 6:00pm: Formula 2 Qualifying
HOW TO WATCH
The entire Australian Grand Prix, including every practice, qualifying and race, can be watched live and ad-break free on Foxtel and streaming platform Kayo.
Sunday’s race will be broadcast free-to-air on Channel 10 and streaming service 10 Play.
Follow Australian Grand Prix practice in our live blog below!