Home favourite Oscar Piastri of McLaren finished fastest in Friday's first day of practice at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.
The Australian was 0.214 seconds quicker than Kimi Antonelli with the George Russell in the second Mercedes third fastest ahead of Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. Max Verstappen and reigning world champion Lando Norris had to settle for sixth and seventh, respectively.
Following a major overhaul of the sport’s regulations, Piastri led F1’s new era at a sun-drenched Albert Park. The headline lap times may well not be a true reflection of outright pace as the top teams all did their laps at different times of the session – Mercedes running relatively early and Piastri late, when the track would have been faster.
Piastri's teammate and reigning world champion Norris could manage only seven laps in the day’s opening running following a gearbox problem on his McLaren, finishing a full second off the pace – a disappointing start to his title defence.
F1's new hybrid power units, which feature a significantly larger share of electrical power than the previous generation, have presented teams with a steep learning curve as drivers adapt to managing energy deployment and regeneration.
Aston Martin team principal Adrian Newey sensationally claimed on Thursday that drivers Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll could suffer nerve damage because of a vibration problem on their car.
Alonso and Stroll finished 20th and 21st of the 22 runners, with only Cadillac’s Sergio Perez – who failed to set a competitive lap – behind them.
Mercedes are tipped to hold an advantage over rivals Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren this year, but Piastri’s speed suggests they might not have it all their own way.
Piastri, a Melburnian, is the local favourite among a crowd that is expected to number 500,000 over the weekend. Piastri led the championship for longer than anybody last season, but finished only third behind Norris and Verstappen.
Addressing his team’s billing as pre-season favourite, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said: “Even if we started the season magnificently, I’ve never been confident enough to say that we are going to be faster, and we’re going to be on the podium at the end of the race weekend.
“That is no different to this year. I’m not going to say that because simply we don’t know.
“We’ve just got to put the work in step by step, do it calmly, and then hopefully be fast enough to fight for a podium or a win on Sunday, but it’s not a given.”
Verstappen ran through the gravel at Turn 10 in the closing stages of the session as he tried to get to grips with the demands of the new regulations. He was six-tenths behind Piastri by the close of play.
Top 10
1. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) - 1:19.729
2. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.214
3. George Russell (Mercedes) +0.320
4. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.321
5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.562
6. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.637
7. Lando Norris (McLaren) +1.065
8. Arvid Lindblad (Racing Bulls) +1.193
9. Isack Hadjar (Red Bull) +1.212
10. Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1.450
