Fernando Alonso set the fastest time of the opening practice session for the Australian Grand Prix as Lewis Hamilton failed to complete a lap.
Hamilton stopped on track after less than five minutes of the session as he completed just one sector of his installation lap. The stoppage was attributed to an oil pressure alarm which caused a precautionary engine shutdown, and came after Mercedes had confirmed the team already had to change the power unit on Hamilton’s car due to an ancillary issue.
Alonso set a best time of 1:31.840 – some 4.6s slower than FP1 a year ago – to take top spot by over half a second from Jenson Buttonand Valtteri Bottas. Williams continued to show strongly with Felipe Massafourth quickest as 0.074s covered second, third and fourth on the timesheets.
Daniel Ricciardo completed some strong running for Red Bullas he managed 26 laps and set the fifth fastest time – three quarters of a second off Alonso’s best – just ahead of Rosbergin the other Mercedes.
Below the complete results of the FP1: