EL1 – Australia: Alonso in reference, Hamilton at a standstill

The first free practice session of the 2014 season F1 was marked by the best time of Fernando Alonso who completed a lap at Albert Park in 1’31”840 ahead of the McLaren by Jenson Button and the Williams de Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa. Daniel Ricciardo completes the top five on the first Red Bull while his teammate Sebastian Vettel took seventh place after a discreet first part of the session.

If these teams have not encountered problems, it is Mercedes who saw his weekend start very badly. Nico Rosberg placed the only remaining W05 in sixth place while Lewis Hamilton stopped on its installation lap after encountering an oil pressure problem which will require a complete engine change. However, the Brackley team does not expect to see its quota of five engines for the season being started since the 2008 world champion did not complete a flying lap.

Jean-Éric Vergne completes the top ten behind Kevin Magnussen and Kimi Raikkonen. But both Toro Rosso encountered serious braking problems, the Frenchman even letting his team know that he refused to attack with his STR9. Nico Hulkenberg is 11th ahead of Sergio Pérez, Daniil Kvyat, Esteban Gutiérrez, Adrian Sutil and the Marussia of Jules Bianchi and Max Chilton. The Caterhams did not set a single time, Marcus Ericsson having notably suffered from a battery problem. Lotus F1 Team found itself in the same situation, with the team far from ready for testing after receiving new parts overnight. If Romain Grosjean was unable to take to the track, Pastor Maldonado suffered a mechanical problem with smoke coming from the cockpit forcing him to return to the pits with the engine stopped.

The second free practice session for the Australian Grand Prix will take place from 6:30 a.m. French time and can be followed live on AUTOhebdo.fr.