Norris lands opening blow as Bearman smashes into a wall in Australian GP opener

Lando Norris added impetus to his favourite tag for this year's F1 drivers' title by posting the leading time in an opening practice session for the Australian Grand Prix that was hit by two red flags.

With Williams' Carlos Sainz out in front, in the dying stages of the hour-long run at Melbourne's Albert Park, Norris posted a lap of 1:17.252s on Pirelli's soft tyres, finishing 0.149s clear of Sainz, the Spanish driver in his maiden race weekend outing for his new team.

Sainz had the edge by 0.060s over his former Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc in third, with home hero Oscar Piastri four-tenths of a second adrift of Norris in fourth, with the Australian narrowly ahead of four-time champion Max Verstappen in his Red Bull.

TWO red flags

Following so much build-up and anticipation, it was new Stake driver Nico Hulkenberg who was first on track, followed by Norris.

With so little testing, just three days in pre-season recently in Bahrain, it was no surprise all the drivers quickly chalked up the laps, attempting to get up to speed as fast as possible around what has become a driver's circuit following modifications over time.

After the opening 15 minutes, Leclerc led the way with a lap of 1:17.880s, followed by Mercedes' George Russell, rookie Isack Hadjar, Norris, and then Verstappen - five different teams in the top five - all on the medium compound of Pirelli tyres.

Before then, Verstappen's new team-mate Liam Lawson endured an early moment of consternation when he brushed the wall on the entry to Turn 9, seemingly though without issue. Further problems followed, however, after sustaining damage to the floor that confined him to the garage for a spell.

Three minutes later, the first red flag of the new season appeared courtesy of Australian Jack Doohan. The Alpine driver skirted the edge of the fast Turn 6, spewing gravel across the track.

It forced race control to halt proceedings for seven minutes whilst a sweeper cleared the asphalt. The skirmish, though, also resulted in Doohan sustaining damage to the left-hand edge of his floor.

Upon resumption, Leclerc improved his leading time to 1:17.842s, 0.188s clear of Russell before Verstappen shaved 0.146s off the Monégasque's time, albeit as the first driver to use the soft tyres.

As the soft-tyre running took over, Sainz pushed his way to the top of the timesheet with a 1:17.401s, 0.060s clear of Leclerc, at which point the session was red-flagged for a crash involving Oliver Bearman crash after 37 minutes.

Coming out of the high-speed Turn 10 right-hander, the car squirmed underneath the Briton forcing him onto the gravel.

Attempting to keep the car in check, and just as Bearman returned to the track, he ultimately lost control, forcing him to hit the brakes, sending him into a spin that was stopped by him smacking into a wall.

Bearman sustained damage to the right-hand side of the car, notably losing the right-rear tyre. At the time of the crash, he was 18th on the timesheet before unsurprisingly finishing bottom by the end.

Hamilton with work to do

Underlining it is worth keeping an eye on Williams, Alex Albon was sixth on the timesheet, 0.461s adrift of Norris, and three-tenths down on new team-mate Sainz.

Russell was up next, although he blotted his copybook at the death by running off track at Turn 4 under braking, with the nose of his W15 nudging a barrier, albeit without damage.

Aston Martin duo Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were eighth and 10th quickest for Aston Martin, sandwiching leading rookie Hadjar, with Doohan 13th, Kimi Antonelli in his Mercedes 14th, a place ahead of Stake's Gabriel Bortoleto, and with Bearman at the rear.

On his practice bow with Ferrari, Lewis Hamilton was a lowly 12th, at one stage complaining he could not get the car to turn as he would like, finishing 0.819s adrift

Lawson, meanwhile, was down in 16th, 1.203s off the pace.