Max Verstappen immediately fulfilled his favorite role during the first practice session for the Australian GP by setting the fastest time. Lewis Hamilton gave Mercedes a somewhat surprising second time, albeit well behind Verstappen.
Oh Melbourne city, what a view! #AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/ZYY97yZEi1
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 31, 2023
After winning the first two races of the new F1 season with Max Verstappen in Bahrain and Sergio Perez in Saudi Arabia, Red Bull was also a huge favorite for the third race in Australia. However, with the Albert Park street circuit, the F1 teams in Australia were presented with a completely different kind of track.
FP1 GREEN LIGHT
Let’s lay down some rubber at Albert Park #AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/aKXZMb8Wx8
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 31, 2023
Even on the third race weekend of the season, the teams and drivers were still trying to figure out how the new cars would react and how they could best be set up. Getting on the track as much as possible and making kilometers was still the message. It was also an extra special race weekend for home driver Oscar Piastri.
Out heads hometown hero @OscarPiastri for a few laps in front of the adoring Aussie crowd! #AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/UDl6WAscgn
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 31, 2023
Since Albert Park is a temporary street circuit, the more driving on the circuit, the more grip there is because more rubber is deposited on the track surface. Track conditions evolve enormously throughout the race weekend.
K-Mag runs very deep and has a slight off-road adventure before re-joining the track! #AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/so8oCEXceE
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 31, 2023
The lack of grip and pushing the limits of the car and the circuit also means that we see a lot of mistakes and slides by the drivers. This was also the case during the first practice session.
Perez runs through the gravel, traffic everywhere and Yuki runs out at Turn 1!!!
What’s going on out there?! #AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/zIXkb4ubxq
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 31, 2023
We also got a red flag during the practice session because there were ‘GPS problems’. A strange situation that mainly meant a loss of time for the teams and drivers. Once the problem was solved, we went full speed again and we saw a spectacular spin from Max Verstappen.
Max Verstappen runs off at the exit of Turn 4
It’s been a challenging opening practice session across the grid! #AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/o0iOHU0UoU
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 31, 2023
At the end of the session we got another red flag because Logan Sargeant had to park his Williams F1 car on the side of the track with technical problems. The practice session was not restarted due to lack of time.
RED FLAG
Logan Sargeant loses power and parks his car
The session will not be resumed #AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/Ap0CdsVsf2
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 31, 2023
Despite that spectacular spin, Max Verstappen was fastest during the first practice session, followed by a surprising Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes in second place by almost half a second.