Melbourne, FP1: Hamilton quickest as F1 season gets underway in Australia

The defending champion beat Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas by over half a second as running got underway at the Albert Park circuit, with Max Verstappen a further two tenths of a second off the pace.

With the temporary circuit lacking grip, teams played a waiting game in the early stages and more than 20 minutes before Williams rookie set the first timed lap of the day with a time of 1:32.057s. The front runners then joined the action with Ferrari’s Kimi Räikkönen and Mercedes’ Bottas briefly topping the timesheet before red Bull Racing made its mark, with Verstappen and team-mate Daniel Ricciardo trading fastest times as the drivers began to explore the limits of the improving track.

Hamilton then vaulted to the top of the order, first with a time of 1:24.531 and later with a time of 1:24.026 set on ultrasofts that stood until the flag fell. Verstappen, meanwhile, used the supersofts to claim third.

Fourth place went to Räikkönen, who finished 0.849 off Hamilton’s pace, with team-mate Sebastian Vettel fifth ahead of Red Bull’s Ricciardo who was just over a second off Hamilton’s pace.

Dark horses from testing Haas finished seventh, with Romain Grosjean setting a time of 1:25.730 to finish seven tenths off the last of the top three teams’ drivers. Fernando Alonso was eighth for McLaren as the team used Renault power for the first time on a grand prix weekend.

The British team had a difficult spell in pre-season testing, suffering a number of mechanical problems and in Melbourne the session was again not without trouble. Alonso spent some time in the garage with an exhaust problem. Carlos Sainz was ninth for Renault, while Alonso’s team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne completed the top 10 order.