Australia – Free Practice 1: McLaren Double

For once, the weather is being unpredictable over Albert Park as a light rain greets the drivers at the start of the first free practice session of the Australian Grand Prix.

The teams therefore mount the Pirelli Cinturato tires for rain and Jean-Eric Vergne is the first driver to venture out on the track in the Toro Rosso STR7. The drivers, however, are only doing the traditional installation laps to check the systems. Only Pedro de la Rosa, whose chassis was still being assembled on Thursday, has not yet taken to the track.

After nearly 20 minutes of testing, and with the rain having stopped, Daniel Ricciardo sets the first timed lap of the season with 1:47.448 on intermediate tires, before lowering his time by five seconds.

In his first fast lap, Fernando Alonso takes the lead with a time of 1:37.941. After half an hour of testing, only four drivers have completed a timed lap, while Narain Karthikeyan is forced to stop his HRT F112, engine off, on the side of the track. The Indian driver’s situation causes a yellow flag, preventing others from recording significant times. But once the track is clear, Rosberg moves to the top of the timesheet with a 1:37.147.

A few minutes later, with a knife between his teeth and on the verge of breaking in every turn, Kobayashi dethrones the Mercedes, the Sauber driver completing a lap of Albert Park in 1:36.906, still on intermediate tires. His teammate, Sergio Perez, is the first to fit slick tires but returns to the pits without triggering the stopwatch.

Relatively calm until then, the session livens up as it approaches the last half hour of testing with the first timed lap on medium tires, at 1:31.751, credited to Kamui Kobayashi, who must however battle with Mark Webber to keep the lead position. But the Japanese driver cannot resist the onslaught of Michael Schumacher, who takes the best time at 1:29.656, which he lowers by five-tenths in the next lap.

For his first timed lap, Lewis Hamilton moves up to 5th place before losing a position to Fernando Alonso, as Mark Webber slots in between the Mercedes drivers. Only the Lotus cars are missing, with Grosjean settling for the 13th time while Kimi Räikkönen’s E20 is stuck in the pits, waiting for the steering rack to be changed.

In a second wind, Lewis Hamilton points the nose of his MP4-27 at the second spot in the hierarchy, while Fernando Alonso spares no effort to seize the third-best time just as Felipe Massa plants his F2012 in the gravel trap, after clipping the curb during the braking at the Clark chicane. On his radio, the Brazilian is surprised by the behavior of his car.

At the start of the last ten minutes of testing, Jenson Button is the first man to go under the 1:28 mark on medium tires, with the Brit improving slightly, lap after lap, until he clocks a 1:27.560. Ahead until the final sector, Lewis Hamilton encounters Nico Rosberg’s W03, which prevents him from setting the best time, while Charles Pic, driving the Marussia, successively hinders Vettel and Ricciardo in their attempts at fast laps.

Under the checkered flag, Jenson Button remains the leader, with Hamilton falling short by two-tenths behind his teammate. The two McLaren drivers are ahead of Michael Schumacher’s Mercedes and Fernando Alonso’s Ferrari, who performed a nice angle at the entry of the last corner. The first Red Bull is in fifth place, thanks to Mark Webber, while Räikkönen manages to climb into the top ten in the final moments.

Free Practice 1 Results of the 2012 Australian Grand Prix: