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Formula 1 Australian GP

F1 Australian GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 & FP2

Friday's action from the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Over two years on from the cancelled Australian GP due to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, F1 makes its highly-anticipated return to a revamped Albert Park for 2022.

The key track changes see sections of the circuit widened, the Turn 9-10 chicane taken out to increase speeds in a flowing back section and the entire layout has been resurfaced. All changes have been made in the hope of increasing overtaking opportunities and creating more exciting races.

Sebastian Vettel is back in action for Aston Martin after missing the opening two races having tested positive for COVID-19.

Charles Leclerc leads the early F1 drivers’ world championship by 12 points from Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr, with reigning world champion Max Verstappen in third 20 points off Leclerc.

Opening practice for the Australian GP gets underway at 4am BST (1pm local time), followed by second practice which starts at 7am BST (4pm local time).

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So Sainz tops FP1 with a 1m19.806s to pull out half a second on Ferrari team-mate Leclerc, with Perez in third and Verstappen in fourth.
The action isn't finished there as Leclerc runs wide at Turn 12 and skates over the gravel and grass to avoid another tricky moment.
Checkered flag
And there's the chequered flag to end a busy first practice. Two red flags, two post-session investigations and a Ferrari 1-2. There won't be many more exciting FP1 sessions than that this season.
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"These ******* Red Bulls are getting in the way everywhere, man," Russell says over team radio. Impeding has been the theme of the FP1.
Perez, on the softs, goes for a late run to steal the headlines and comes up half a second short but it is still fast enough to claim third place. Ferrari 1-2, Red Bull 3-4.
Russell gets extremely close to one of the Red Bull drivers on the approach to Turn 9 but thankfully they avoid each other. It has been a theme of this busy FP1 session.
All cars back out on track apart from the Ferraris, the Alpines and Vettel.
Green flag
Off we go again.
FP1 will restart in two minutes to provide a final 10-minute blast.
Mechanical problem
Fireman Seb is back! Vettel quickly picks up a fire extinguisher from a marshal and gives his Aston Martin a spray to contain the fire.
Red flag
Red flag! Vettel has stopped on the track with his Aston Martin smoking from the rear.
Alex Kalinauckas
Alex Kalinauckas

Trackside update

“Down on the exit of Turn 2 and the cars are really wild now they can sweep in at much higher speed, then dance with the kerbs on the exit. The Mercedes, Aston and Alpine have been struggling most, but Leclerc’s off a moment ago was just a pit exit misjudgement.”

Leclerc has an odd moment at Turn 1 but gets away with it. After a practice start out of the pitlane, he gets it all wrong at the corner and slides wide and over the grass and gravel but has enough momentum to keep going.
An encouraging start for McLaren, with Norris in fourth and Ricciardo in seventh so far. Given the team's recent fortunes they would take that come Sunday.
Alonso has a small spin on the exit of Turn 11 but is able to continue without too much fuss. Elsewhere, the FIA stewards will also investigate Stroll and Magnussen impeding incident after FP1.
Stopwatch
Sainz is now top after putting in a 1m20.325s in his Ferrari.
Stopwatch
Verstappen has reclaimed top spot with a 1m20.626s on the softs - but not for long as Leclerc instantly responds with a 1m20.377s.
Seconds earlier another impeding incident had been noted, this time between Stroll and Magnussen. It has been a busy few minutes for the Dane.
Magnussen locks up at Turn 3 and goes off track, skimming his Haas F1 car over the gravel trap, before getting going again.
Stopwatch
Leclerc goes fastest with a 1m20.825s on the softs.
33 minutes into FP1 and Magnussen has finally put in a timed lap, a conservative 1m25.619s to go P19 only ahead of Haas team-mate Schumacher. Expect more to come from both of them.
Stopwatch
Vettel goes third overall with a 1m21.661s with Perez and Hamilton slotting in behind in fourth and fifth respectively.
Stopwatch
Sainz pops up to second place with a 1m21.249s to move 0.340s off Verstappen's leading effort.
Well, the FIA stewards disagree with our earlier assumption, as the Sainz vs Zhou impeding incident will be investigated after FP1.
Stopwatch
Verstappen continues to lead the times, a 1m20.909s giving him a 0.9s buffer to Norris in second, but the majority of the other drivers are yet to give it full beans on the softs.

During the brief red flag race control has noted the Sainz vs Zhou impeding moment at Turn 13. But given the result of the earlier notes, that probably won't go any further.

Green flag
And just like that we are back to green flag conditions as a marshal makes quick work of cleaning up the track.
Red flag

The red flag has been shown so the marshals can safely retrieve the lost bit of Perez's Red Bull F1 car from the track.

Perez loses a sizeable chunk of bodywork from the rear of his Red Bull on the exit of the final corner, which Ocon steers clear of and reports it over his team radio.

A few lock-ups are occurring, predominately at the heavy braking zones of Turn 6 and Turn 11, while Alonso runs wide and over the grass in his Alpine.

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"What is he doing? Fully blocked me," Zhou says over team radio on that earlier Sainz incident. Elsewhere the stewards decide the Verstappen and Latifi impeding incident also doesn't need investigating.
There's a lot of bargaining for space going on, as Zhou and Sainz get a little too close around the final two corners. It is a long enough lap around Albert Park to find room, but it is early into FP1 so we'll let them off for now.
The Hamilton vs Stroll impeding incident won't be investigated by the stewards, but moments later a Turn 4 incident of impeding between Verstappen and Latifi has been noted. It is all going on!
Stopwatch
Verstappen isn't hanging about today, as he goes fastest on the softs with a 1m21.625s.
Stopwatch
Norris leads the times now with a 1m23.066s, 0.035s quicker than Verstappen.
Some early aggro as Stroll gets held up by Hamilton coming into the final corners. That incident has been noted by race control.
Bottas provides the first lap time of the day with a 1m26.761s. The lap record at Albert Park is 1m24.125s (set by Michael Schumacher in 2004!), but given the track changes expect that to go come Sunday.
In fact, 17 out of 20 drivers are already on track. We are just missing Magnussen, Sainz and Russell.

By: autosport.com

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