Ferrari lead the way in FP1 as new-era chaos greets F1's return to Melbourne

Charles Leclerc set the first competitive benchmark of the 2026 Formula 1 season in Friday practice at Albert Park, heading a Ferrari 1-2 with Lewis Hamilton second and Max Verstappen third. It was an encouraging start for the Scuderia. Whether it means anything beyond that is another question entirely.

This was, after all, FP1 of a regulation reset. The new cars, new power units and narrower Pirelli tyres mean nobody really knows where they stand yet. Melbourne in March tends to provide surprises at the best of times. Right now, the variables are stacked.

Ferrari set the tone

Leclerc's late lap of 1.20.267s was the session's headline. He and Verstappen traded quickest times through much of the hour before Leclerc came through at the end.. Hamilton finished four tenths back, Verstappen just over half a second behind Leclerc.

It followed a strong pre-season for Ferrari, whose distinctive flip wing attracted plenty of attention in Bahrain. The pace here looked genuine, not fuel-load flattery. But three seconds per lap slower than FP1 last year is a reminder that everyone is still finding their feet with these cars.

Isack Hadjar was fourth for Red Bull, having led the session for long stretches in the first half. Arvid Lindblad, the 18-year-old making his F1 debut for Racing Bulls, went fifth. That is worth underlining: a teenager on his first competitive outing in a Formula 1 car, half a second off Hamilton. Not bad at all.

McLaren had a practice to forget

The reigning constructors' champions will be doing a lot of reading tonight. Oscar Piastri lost power within three minutes of the session starting, bringing out a yellow flag just metres from his home crowd. He eventually recovered, completing 19 laps and finishing sixth, but the damage to the data collection was done.

Lando Norris fared worse. Both McLarens reported things not feeling right early on, with Norris spending much of the session in the garage while the team carried out precautionary gearbox checks. He managed seven laps and finished 19th. The world champion barely turned a wheel on the opening day of the season.

None of this is necessarily alarming. Teams find and fix problems in practice, and McLaren are not the sort of outfit to let something like this linger. But it does raise a question about whether their MCL40 has arrived in Melbourne fully sorted.

Aston Martin in a different kind of trouble

If McLaren's day was frustrating, Aston Martin's was closer to a disaster. Fernando Alonso did not set a single timed lap after Honda identified a suspected power unit issue on his AMR26 before the session. Lance Stroll completed three installation laps and nothing more.

It is another chapter in what has been a troubled build-up for the team. As we covered ahead of the season, Aston Martin left Bahrain testing in a considerably darker mood than they arrived. Friday offered no relief. Stroll ended the session 30 seconds off Leclerc's benchmark. That figure tells its own story.

The bigger picture

The rest of the top ten made for interesting reading. George Russell and Kimi Antonelli took seventh and eighth for Mercedes, while the Audi duo of Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg rounded out the top ten. Hulkenberg, fittingly, was the first driver to take a 2026 car out of the pitlane in anger.

Down the order, Cadillac made their Formula 1 practice debut. Valtteri Bottas finished 17th, Sergio Perez 20th. Nobody expected them to challenge at the front. Getting through the session cleanly was the target, and largely they did that.

There were off-track moments for Franco Colapinto, Carlos Sainz and Perez, none serious. Alex Albon stopped late on with a hydraulic issue. Small gremlins, broadly expected on the first day of a new technical era.

What FP1 has given us is a snapshot, nothing more. Ferrari look quick. McLaren have work to do. Aston Martin have serious concerns that go beyond a single session. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, a teenager just went fifth on his debut.

Melbourne has a habit of making fools of the favourites. FP2 will tell us more.