Lando Norris topped the primary apply session for this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park in Melbourne after a giant crash for Oliver Bearman on the super-fast Flip 9-10.
Bearman, beginning his first full-time season with Haas, misplaced management of his automotive exiting the second a part of the chicane, with a snap of oversteer sending him over the gravel. The Briton saved his foot in and briefly appeared to have saved his first soft-tire lap till the automotive bottomed out on the lip between the gravel entice and the tarmac.
A raised little bit of grass run-off then tipped the automotive right into a spin, sending it backwards into the obstacles, the place it made heavy contact with each right-hand corners. Bearman emerged from his wrecked automotive unharmed.
Purple flags had been flown for 12 minutes to clear the circuit and gather particles, leaving simply over 10 minutes on the clock for the remainder of the hour-long session.
Norris, who hadn’t but bolted on the delicate tire, took his alternative, and by his sixth lap on the quickest compound he’d taken high spot with a finest lap of 1m17.252s. The time was an enchancment of round 1.3s faster than final yr’s corresponding FP1 time.
Carlos Sainz was a outstanding second quickest for Williams, the Spaniard having rocketed to high spot shortly earlier than Bearman’s crimson flag and clinging on till Norris’s late bolter.
The Spaniard was 0.06s faster than former teammate Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari driver was 0.209s off Norris’s tempo however set his time nearly 25 minutes earlier within the session — a doubtlessly important distinction given the excessive grip evolution on the general public roads of Albert Park.
Oscar Piastri was fourth and 0.418s off his main teammate.
An unlucky crash for Ollie Bearman brings out the crimson flag 😱
Bearman is okay and heading again to the storage#F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/GxnoqnLKAk
— Components 1 (@F1) March 14, 2025
Max Verstappen was 0.026s behind the Australian after wrestling his Purple Bull Racing automotive across the circuit, together with a skim of the gravel entice at Flip 6.
Alex Albon accomplished the highest six for Williams, 0.461s off the tempo and 0.312s slower than teammate Albon.
George Russell had an uncommon off at Flip 4 after dropping a wheel on exit and spearing off the street. The Mercedes driver got here perilously near nosing the obstacles, however the tarmac run-off saved him any harm, and he was in a position to rejoin the session.
Isack Hadjar mentioned he hadn’t maximized the delicate tire regardless of main the best way for Racing Bulls in ninth forward of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll in tenth.
Yuki Tsunoda was 0.2s slower than teammate Hadjar on his solution to eleventh within the order.
Lewis Hamilton’s first grand prix session for Ferrari led to twelfth and 0.819s off the tempo. The Briton complained that his automotive wasn’t turning via the hour, leaving him 0.61s behind teammate Leclerc.
Jack Doohan was Alpine’s quickest driver, ending thirteenth regardless of some early flirtations with the stones. One in all his minor offs contributed sufficient gravel to the observe to trigger a crimson flag for cleansing, suspending the session for round 5 minutes.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the 18-year-old Mercedes rookie, was 14th forward of fellow new began Gabriel Bortoleto, who took Sauber to fifteenth.
Liam Lawson’s first Purple Bull Racing session nearly got here to a speedy halt when he brushed the obstacles at flip 9. His RB21 survived the sunshine impression to get him to an eventual sixteenth.
Pierre Gasly was seventeenth within the second Alpine forward of Haas driver Esteban Ocon and the crashed-out Oliver Bearman.
