Hamilton beats Vettel by 0.038 in FP1

Hamilton had warned that Mercedes was facing a clear deficit ahead of Ferrari in pre-season testing, but launched its first race in Melbourne on Friday afternoon as if nothing had happened.

Five-time winner of the title, he clocked 1m23.599 on the Albert Park circuit to take the lead of Vettel by 0.038 seconds. Charles Leclerc is only 0.074 seconds behind in his first Grand Prix session for Ferrari.

Max Verstappen gave Red Bull and Honda an encouraging start to life with the fourth fastest time, 0.193 seconds behind schedule.

Mercedes was pretty much in charge of the FP1, while Valtteri Bottas became the first favorite to set a significant time and dominate the rankings until Hamilton was fastest when both tires went moderately. flexible to soft tires.

Bottas' soft tires left it 0.267s slower than Hamilton and limited it to fifth, but that could have been worse after missing an opportunity on an escape route.

As he approached the penultimate bend, the Finn touched the grass on the outside and continued straight ahead, locking briefly, then operating the throttle to perform a spin. orderly – barely avoiding the barrier to the outside while his car was spinning.

Pierre Gasly, the new Red Bull driver, did not have the same impact as a team-mate, Verstappen, and beat the pace of 1.3 seconds in eighth position.

This allowed Kimi Raikkonen to keep the best of the rest behind the big three teams, giving Alfa Romeo a quick boost for his first Grand Prix weekend as a full participant.

However, Raikkonen was 1.2 seconds off the pace, indicating that the midfielder group is no closer to Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull than before.

Gasly's lack of pace in FP1 meant that he was also found behind his former team, Toro Rosso, and the pilot he had replaced at the Red Bull Junior Training in 2017, Daniil Kvyat.

The Russian, who returns to F1 after a year as a development driver at Ferrari, clocked seventh fastest time and was only two-hundredths of a second slower than Raikkonen.

His new teammate Alex Albon held up less well during his Grand Prix weekend debut, achieving a respectable 13th time, but provoking a red flag when he dropped his car into the barriers at the exit of the bend. 1 in the last half hour.

Alexander Albon, Toro Rosso STR14 with a broken nose after a rotation

Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / LAT Images

After testing, Haas was considered the midfielder's favorite, but Kevin Magnussen was only the ninth best in FP1, only one-tenth behind Raikkonen.

Nico Hulkenberg, of Renault, finished in the top 10 after losing time because of an "electronic error".

McLaren and Racing Point had a muted start to the season with their top drivers, respectively 14th (Carlos Sainz Jr for McLaren) and 15th (Lance Stroll for Racing Point).

However, these teams were at least stuck at the back of the midfield group, while Williams was seconded to the back of the field.

Robert Kubica set the team's fastest time, but he lost 4.3 seconds and two seconds behind the next driver, McLaren rider Lando Norris.

Formula 2 champion George Russell finished the slowest FP1, 0.8 times less than his teammate Kubica.

He continues to worry about the beginning of 2019 for Williams, who was late for pre-season testing, lost his chief technical officer, Paddy Lowe, and altered the design of his car to ensure it legality before the weekend.

Practice time: