#AustralianGP FP1: @Carlossainz55 leads @ScuderiaFerrari one-two. #F1 #AusGP

Sainz Australian GP FP1 – Carlos Sainz lead from team-mate Charles Leclerc in a Ferrari one-two in the opening FP1 session at the Australian GP with Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez third.

In a session that was red-flagged twice on the modified and resurfaced Albert Park Street Circuit, Sainz took advantage of an excursion through the gravel trap for team-mate Leclerc to set the pace by 0.571 seconds.

The Spaniard flew to a 1:19.806 to hammer the existing fastest lap effort set on the previous layout configuration, a 1:20.486 posted by Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton at the 2019 event.

Sainz’s benchmark on a scrub-set of the C5 red side-walled softer compounds arrived shortly after Leclerc had completed his practice start, only for the Monegasque-youngster to run off the circuit at turn one.

Leclerc ran through the gravel to compromise his rubber and the following flyer, handing his team-mate the advantage as Perez pipped Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen for third.

Perez was the first driver to take to the Albert Park circuit, where the 2020 event was cancelled at the 11th hour due to the coronavirus pandemic with the Mexican’s RB18 racer using the C5 softer tyres and an aero rake behind the front axles to test the new wing end-plates.

The Red Bull driver was followed out by Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and several runners on the yellow-marked C3 mediums, lead by McLaren’s Lando Norris, Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu and the Aston Martin pairing as Sebastian Vettel return to action after missing out the opening two Grands Prix due to COVID-19.

Norris was the early pace-setter on the newly-revised layout, with the Briton lapping on a 1:25.009 four minutes in. He was quickly joined by McLaren team-mate Daniel Ricciardo, with the home-favourite 0.13 off as Bottas crossed the line six hundredths onboard his Alfa Romeo C42 racer.

Verstappen then jumped to the top of the time-sheets as he initially began running the softs, like team-mate Perez, as the former clocked a 1:23.101 as Leclerc claimed fourth on the C2 white-branded hards.

But then the Dutchman put a hot-lap in to go 1.4 seconds clear, Verstappen flying over the line in a 1:21.625 after the 11th-minute mark.

Leclerc responded on the harder compound, wounding up three-tenths down before Verstappen found another half a second then a further two tenths the next tour to bring the benchmark to a 1:20.909. This put the Red Bull driver nine-tenths in-front of Norris, as Leclerc split the McLaren duo in third.

Perez’s RB18 then dropped some debris from the rear as he ran over the exit kerbs at the final corner, which triggered a 90 second red flag for it to be removed.

Sainz returned on the harder tyres to go 0.3 adrift of Verstappen’s soft tyre stint, whilst Vettel’s latest C5 effort was 0.7 seconds adrift to he reached third in the order over Perez and Hamilton.

Verstappen then went on another charge on the softs to shave off a few hundredths, improving once again to a 1:20.857, but the Dutchman was pipped by Leclerc on a 1:20.825 after 25 minutes – the championship-leading Ferrari driver switching to the C5 softer rubber.

As the Red Bull and Ferrari swapped places at the top, Verstappen squeezed a 1:20.626 from his RB18 racer to jump into first place before Leclerc hit back with a 1:20.377 to break the lap record.

Sainz then lowered the time to a 1:20.325, then Leclerc’s turn one off-track excursion paved the way for his Ferrari team-mate to improve on a 1:19.806 to set the session’s best effort.

With Leclerc remaining on his 1:20.377, before the Ferrari duo ended the session on the harder tyres, Leclerc again jumped through the gravel, Perez sneaked to third to lead the Red Bull pairing who were 0.593 seconds+ off the pace.

Reigning champion Verstappen was fourth and ahead of Norris who ended FP1 in fifth and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon who came sixth in the order.

Mercedes’ Hamilton ended the session seventh on the time-sheets over Ricciardo who took eighth and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso, with the latter making an error at turn three, also hitting the gravel.

Alfa Romeo’s Bottas rounded out the top ten and ahead of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Mercedes’ George Russell who were 11th and 12th respectively.

The aforementioned Vettel wound up 13th, with the four-time world champion forced to miss the final ten minutes of the session, after causing the second red flag.

The German parked his Aston Martin AMR22 on the exit of turn ten after reporting an engine issue as smoke waft the back of his car.

Scuderia AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly finished the session in 14th and in-front of Alfa Romeo’s Zhou who took 15th in the order and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll who was 16th.

Williams Racing pairing Alexander Albon and Nicholas Latifi were 17th and 19th respectively as Haas F1 Team duo Kevin Magnussen and Mick Schumacher ended opening practice in 18th and at the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 Heineken Australian Grand Prix Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1108/australia/practice-1.html

#Formula1 @Heineken #AustralianGP 2022 Preview. #F1