Lewis Hamilton is quickest in FP1 in Melbourne

Lewis Hamilton is quickest in FP1 in Melbourne

In the first practice session at the Albert Park circuit yesterday, Lewis Hamilton topped the timesheets ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo in a session that saw the drivers perfecting their set ups and seeing where they need to improve before FP2.

There was problems during FP1 especially for Renault driver Jolyon Palmer which managed six laps of running in the session due to a gearbox problem.

But it was Lewis Hamilton who was fastest with a lap time of 1:24.220 ahead of Valtteri Bottas in second place who was 0.583 seconds behind him and ahead of Daniel Ricciardo in third place who was 0.666 seconds behind Hamilton.

Max Verstappen finished the session in fourth place ahead of Kimi Raikkonen in fifth place, Sebastian Vettel in sixth place, Felipe Massa in seventh place, Romain Grosjean in eighth place, Nico Hulkenberg in ninth place and Sergio Perez who rounded off the top ten finishers.

Carlos Sainz Jr ended the session in eleventh place ahead of Daniil Kvyat in twelfth place, Lance Stroll in thirteenth place, Fernando Alonso in fourteenth place and Marcus Ericsson in fifteenth place.

As we head into the latter stages of the grid, Esteban Ocon ended the session in sixteenth place ahead of Kevin Magnussen in seventeenth place, Pascal Wehrlein in eighteenth place, Jolyon Palmer in nineteenth place and Stoffel Vandoorne in twentieth place.

The classification of FP1 for the Australian GP is as follows:-

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 1.24.220s
2. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes, 0.583s
3. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull-TAG Heuer, 0.666s
4. Max Verstappen, Red-Bull-TAG Heuer, 1.026s
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari, 1.152s
6. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari, 1.244s
7. Felipe Massa, Williams-Mercedes, 1.922s
8. Romain Grosjean, Haas Ferrari, 1.948s
9. Nico Hulkenberg, Renault, 1.963s
10. Sergio Perez, Force India-Mercedes, 2.056s
11. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso, 2.230s
12. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso, 2.294s
13. Lance Stroll, Williams-Mercedes, 2.514s
14. Fernando Alonso, McLaren-Honda, 2.896s
15. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber-Ferrari, 3.128s
16. Esteban Ocon, Force India-Mercedes, 3.436s
17. Kevin Magnussen, Haas Ferrari, 3.447s
18. Pascal Wehrlein, Sauber-Ferrari, 4.319s
19. Jolyon Palmer, Renault, 4.369s
20. Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren-Honda, 4.475s

Driving for Pleasure will be covering the Australian GP weekend with our practice, qualifying and race reports alongside the latest news.

Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa