F1 Australian GP: Norris fastest in FP1 as Bearman crashes

McLaren’s Lando Norris topped first apply for Components 1’s Australian Grand Prix forward of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, with the motion disrupted twice by two purple flag stoppages.

Leclerc led the primary quarter of the one-hour session with an early benchmark of 1m17.880s, because the opening quarter-hour featured each Pink Bull drivers getting away with wayward moments – Liam Lawson tapping the wall on strategy to Flip 9 and Max Verstappen clipping the gravel exiting Flip 6.

After a lull in motion the session was briefly halted on account of particles on monitor – presumably from Jack Doohan’s Alpine, which had been amongst the automobiles dragging gravel onto the monitor on the reprofiled Flip 6.

The session resumed simply earlier than the midway stage, with Verstappen heading straight again out on the softs and duly going quickest with a 1m17.696s.

The remainder of the frontrunners have been already set to finish their first flying laps on the softs a lot later, with Leclerc slotting into second by 0.060s simply after Sainz had gone quickest for Williams with a 1m17.401s.

However the session was then suspended when Oliver Bearman crashed closely after going off exiting the speedy Flip 10 proper – the Briton smashing the right-hand aspect of his automotive in opposition to the skin barrier earlier than the wreckage bounced again throughout the monitor.

The motion solely resumed with 11 minutes remaining, after which Norris had his first try at a flying lap wrecked by Yuki Tsunoda nipping forward simply because the Briton was about to open up.

Oscar Piastri did get a flier in with contemporary softs on the opposite McLaren simply afterwards, with the house hero going 0.269s slower than Sainz to run third, earlier than Norris demoted him with an effort simply 0.117s down on Sainz, however with the quickest time within the ultimate sector.

Within the ultimate minutes, Norris shot to the highest of the occasions with a 1m17.252s, whereas Alex Albon put the second Williams sixth behind Verstappen’s greatest effort.

George Russell, who completed seventh as the highest Mercedes runner, spun off at Flip 4 simply earlier than the end, placing his right-side wheels on the grass after exiting Flip 3.

Fernando Alonso, Isack Hadjar and Lance Stroll rounded out the highest 10, whereas Lewis Hamilton was solely twelfth for Ferrari and his alternative at Mercedes, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, was simply 14th.

F1 Australian GP – FP1 outcomes