Ten things we learned from first practice

The 2014 Formula 1 season finally got underway in Australia today with probably the most eagerly anticipated three hours of free practice in grand prix history.

With the new 1.6-litre V6 turbocharged era starting and big question marks over the competitive order, and whether Mercedes really is as strong as it looked in pre-season testing, the unknowns were almost infinite at the start of the day.

After just two sessions, the waters of F1 2014 have become a little less muddy. So just what did we learn today?

RAIKKONEN IS NOT AS COMFORTABLE AS ALONSO

Kimi Raikkonen's Ferrari comeback at the same venue where he won on his debut for the Scuderia in 2007 is one of the big stories of the season. But as AUTOSPORT's technical expert Gary Anderson has noted, he doesn't look as comfortable in the F14 T as team-mate Fernando Alonso.

"Kimi didn't look as happy as Fernando in the car, either in the first or second session," says Anderson. "He doesn't seem to have the same confidence, and looking at the onboard footage and the way he is steering, he seems reluctant to turn in and is cautious about committing.

"It's as if he is having to wait for the car to respond, whereas Alonso is able to muscle it. This is very unlike Raikkonen, who is usually perfectly happy to give the car a hassle, so there's clearly something he's not happy with."

DRIVER ERRORS ARE OBVIOUS

Those watching the television coverage of practice can't have failed to notice how many more driver errors there were.

One of the consequences of the new regulations is that the cars have significantly more torque, making it easier to spin the rear wheels when opening the throttle. This (combined with the reduction in rear downforce) means it's easier to get caught out.

During the race in particular, it's going to be fascinating to see how many drivers are caught out by the combination of race situations, rear tyres that are going off and the torque.

Add to that problems posed by some teams struggling with relatively unrefined rear brake-by-wire systems and you have a formula that certainly will test the drivers.

PROBLEMS WILL BE VERY COSTLY

Problems that would be considered standard fare with the old 2.4-litre V8 engines used last year are now show-stoppers in F1.

While this situation will improve as teams become more familiar with the new machinery and better ways of fixing problems are found, there is a greater danger of weekends being ruined by ill-timed problems.

Just look at what happened to Caterham today. A fuel-system problem on Kamui Kobayashi's car struck during the morning session and his car wasn't ready to go out in the afternoon. Team-mate Marcus Ericsson managed a grand total of one lap in the afternoon thanks to a hydraulics issue.

With only two hours separating free practice and qualifying tomorrow, a problem that takes a while to fix could condemn a car to the back of the grid.

2014 CARS ARE SLOWER THAN LAST YEAR'S

This year's cars were always expected to be slower than those raced in 2013. As Gary Anderson explains, the surprising pace shown during Bahrain testing was an illusion.

"We're around 3.7 seconds off last year's second free practice pace, which is about where you would expect things to be considering all of the changes that are a negative as far as laptimes are concerned," says Anderson.

"Bahrain, where the fastest laps were within a second of the 2013 pole position time, surprised me because it was so close to last year. But that's often the case during winter testing."

LOTUS PAYING PRICE FOR LATE START

Friday was a disaster for the Lotus team, with its twin-tusk machine failing to post a laptime during the first session and a grand total of 12 laps (all by Romain Grosjean) posted in the second.

Lotus missed the opening pre-season test, which given the problems Renault has been working through has saddled it with a handicap that is making life very difficult now the serious stuff has started.

Suggestions it could sit out Saturday's free practice session to ensure it is ready for qualifying have been downplayed, but given the troubles the team is having it would be no surprise if things go wrong even if it tries to run.

Enstone has many very capable people, but the team is facing a long, hard battle to get itself in the frame for good results this year.

RENAULT IS GETTING THERE

When Daniel Ricciardo's Red Bull first hit the track this morning, you could hear the difference in the Renault engine, which sounded far smoother and more convincing than it did at the end of pre-season testing in Bahrain.

While two of the French marque's teams managed just 17 laps between them, both Red Bull and Scuderia Toro Rosso ran relatively untroubled.

As Renault Sport F1's Rob White admitted, "it's completely unacceptable" to be coming to a first race so poorly prepared, but huge credit is deserved for how big a step has been taken.

During practice, plenty of the nuts-and-bolts donkeywork that should have been completed in testing was still being ticked off the list, but to Renault's credit it now appears to have a platform from which to build even if it is still playing catch-up.

RED BULL HAS MADE MASSIVE STRIDES

Remember pre-season testing? Two weeks ago tomorrow, Sebastian Vettel's attempt to complete a plodding race run in Bahrain failed and Red Bull looked set for a painful start to the season.

But, surprisingly even for a team that has set sky-high standards over the past half-decade, today it is firmly in the thick of the fight for best of the rest.

There were never any doubts that Red Bull would recover. The question was how long it would take. But only the most optimistic would have predicted things would brighten so quickly.

With both Vettel and team-mate Ricciardo completing significant mileage already, the chances of the car lasting the distance in the race appear far greater than they did just a few days ago.

MERCEDES STILL THE TEAM TO BEAT...

For all the promise shown by Williams, Mercedes headed into this weekend as favourite for the Australian Grand Prix, and everything that happened during Friday practice consolidated that status.

Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg were the two fastest drivers of the day. The German's long run during the afternoon session suggested that in race conditions the car's advantage could potentially be as much as a second per lap.

But none of this means Mercedes is infallible. Lewis Hamilton ground to a halt on only his second lap of the morning session thanks to a mis-calibrated sensor. It was a minor and understandable problem, but one that cost him 90 minutes of track time.

If Mercedes can avoid a repeat of such problems, it is looking in good shape to lock out the front row and then make good on its status as favourite on Sunday.

...BUT BEHIND MERCEDES, IT'S VERY CLOSE

All of the smart money is on Rosberg and Hamilton. But as for who is next up, it's anyone's guess.

AUTOSPORT's analysis of the long-run pace on Friday suggests there is only around three tenths covering Williams, Red Bull, Ferrari, Force India and McLaren. It's impossible to call what order they will be in because of the limitations of drawing conclusions from inconclusive data, but we can be certain it's very close.

Qualifying will tell us how they line up on raw speed, but the next question is who can sustain their pace in the race without hitting economy problems given the 100kg-per-race fuel limit.

THE 107 PER CENT RULE SHOULDN'T BE A PROBLEM

There has been a lot of talk about drivers failing to qualify on the basis of the 107 per cent rule (based on Q1 times), but notwithstanding the fact that dispensations are likely to be granted all the indications are that everyone is quick enough anyway.

Using Lewis Hamilton's fastest time from the afternoon session of 1m29.625s, the cut-off for 107 per cent would have been a 1m35.899s. The slowest time was Max Chilton's 1m34.757s.

The only question mark is over Caterham. While the car looks very difficult to drive, there's little doubt it is fast enough to qualify; Bahrain proved that. But until either Kobayashi or Ericsson actually log a flying lap it's difficult to be sure.