Sainz Is The Fastest In Australian GP First Practice, Overshadowed By Teammate Leclerc With A Time Difference Of 0.571 Seconds

Carlos Sainz (Instagram @ carlossainz55)

JAKARTA - Carlos Sainz topped the Australian Grand Prix's first practice lap on Friday ahead of his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc as F1 returned to racing at Albert Park for the first time in three years.

Quoted from Antara, on a sunny morning in Melbourne, Sainz recorded a best lap of one minute 19.806 seconds, or 0.571 seconds faster than the Monaco racer who is currently in control of the standings.

Red Bull's Sergio Perez finished third fastest ahead of reigning world champion Max Verstappen in a session that was hampered by two incidents.

Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel, who missed the opening two races of the season due to testing positive for COVID-19, finished P13 but his Aston Martin power unit lost steam, smoked and crashed 15 minutes before the end of the session.

The German driver took the fire extinguisher from the marshal and immediately sprayed his car to extinguish the fire.

It was the second red flag raised in practice after the track had to be cleared for 20 minutes of debris from the bodywork of the Red Bull Perez car.

McLaren, struggling to find pace at the start of the season, looked more promising as Lando Norris finished fifth while the home driver Daniel Ricciardo finished P8 in McLaren's second car.

Mercedes, which had problems with porpoising in the early races, found Lewis Hamilton in P7 and George Russell finishing P12.

Haas's Kevin Magnussen missed the press conference feeling nauseous at night, but was able to get off the track despite slipping into the gravel at Turn three before ending the session at P18.

Steward investigated the incidents of Sainz blocking Zhou Guanyu's Alfa Romeo early in the session and the Lance Stroll's car blocking Magnussen's pace.