After months of talking, the first day of competitive on-track running in F1 2025 finally got underway at the Australian Granꦆd Prix. 

The opening pair of all-important track sessions for the ne🌼w season provided a first proper look at the pecking order, and gave some crucial early indications into how the drivers and teams are feeling.

Here are the main t꧙hings we learned from Friday’s track action in Melbourne.

McLaren may not run away with it

After a strong pre-season showing, McLaren were tipped as ℱthe clear favourites head🦋ing to Australia by both pundits and rival teams.

Following the first day of running around the Albert Park circuit, there is still reason to suggest McLaren are the team to beat, however they may not be as dominant as 𒁏some initially feared.

Ferrari set the quickest outright lap during the soft tyre qualifying simulations in FP2, with 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Charles Leclerc just 0.124 seconds ahead of the McLarens of 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Oscar Piastri and168澳洲5最新开奖结果: Lando Norris, who admitted that he was168澳洲5最新开奖结果: not entirely happy with the performance of his MCL39 over one lap.

A crunching of the numbers from the - albeit limited - 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:long run data points towards an encouragingly competitive field, with Friday’s practice 🍌ti𒆙mes showing there could be little to separate McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.

Qualifying, when every team’s true performance will be shown f🔯or the first time, promises to be fascinating, while Sunday’s grand prix could be wide open, especially if rain arrives as forecast. 

Scale of Lewis Hamilton’s challenge apparent   

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Lewis Hamilton took on the biggest c🦋hange of his career when he shocked the F1 world last February by announcing he would leave Mercedes after 12 years to join Ferrari.

In recent weeks, Hamilton has been revelling in the fanfare and excitement of a career move which represents a childhood dream for the seven-time world champion, but he was ♍always aware of the🌱 task he was facing in adapting to a new team at 40 years old.

That challenge was underlined as Hamilton finally took to the track in Ferrari’s SF-25 car for the first time proper on Friday, finishing 12th-fastest in the opening practice session with a rather-alarming six-ten🔯th gap to new teammate Leclerc. Hamilton improved to fifth in second practice but was still four-tenths 🥃adrift of Leclerc, who set the pace during the qualifying simulation runs.

Hamilton revealed he has spent the early part of the weekend 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:adjusting his driving style to suit the requirements of his new Ferrari as he continues to explore ⭕theꦍ package and get up to speed.

He knows he has work to do to close the big deficit to Leclerc, regarded as many as one of - if n🐟ot the - fastest driver on the grid over a single lap amid lingering doubts surrounding his recent F1 struggles, most notably in qualifying, following a difficult end to his illustrious Mercedes st🐽int.

If Ferrari do i🅰ndeed turn out to have the quickest car come qualifying in Melbourne, Hamilton will have no hiding place from the scrutiny of the gigantic spotlight that has hovered over him since he first stepped foot inside F1’s most iconic team.

A shaky start for Liam Lawson at Red Bull

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Liam Lawson was promoted in place of 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Sergio Perez at Red Bull to provide 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Max Verstappen w𓆏ith closer competition and help the team get back into constructors’ championship con𝓰tention, after slipping to third last term.

Perez’s woeful displays throughout 2024 were largely to blame for Red Bull’s failure to defend their world title, wi♉th Verstappen still able to clin🐈ch a fourth consecutive drivers’ crown despite facing increased competition from McLaren and Norris.

But it has been a shaky start for Lawson, who closed out Friday’s 🎉running 17♏th fastest of the 19 drivers who set lap times - and over half a second slower than Verstappen.

The 22-year-old Kiwi was only 1🐬6th in FP1 with a much larger gap to his four-time world champion teammate and confessed he was “just too slow” on his first outing for the Red Bull senior team.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner was quick to 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:leap to Lawson’s defence, citing this being his first experience of the Melbourne track, a🐠nd stressing the need for patience in what he described as being “the toughest job in Formula 1”.

Carlos Sainz’s smooth Williams transition

For 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Carlos Sainz, things couldn’t have started much smoother on his first grand prix weekꦚend ಞwith Williams.

The 30-year-old Spaniard has fitted seওamlessly into the British sq🐬uad after embedding himself into the team over the winter following his switch from Ferrari, having been forced to vacate his seat to Hamilton.

Sainz impressed by setting the second fastest time in the first session, before finishing 11th in second practice. In both FP1 and FP2, he was quicker than new teammate 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Alex Albon as Williams con💧tinued to catch the eye following an encouraging pre-season test in Bahrain.

Intriguingly, Sainz was also able to mix it close to the top teams during his high-fuel race simulations, giving Williams even mo꧒re reason to be optimistic amid early indications their FW47 is a significant improvement on its predecessor.

Nightmare start for one F1 rookie

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Oliver Bearman was left apologising to his Haas mechanics after suffering a heavy crash in opening practice when❀ he slammed into the barriers having lost control at Turn 10.

The British rookie was forced to sit out of the second hour of running due to the damage sustained to his car, putting him on th෴e back foot for the rest of the Australian Grand Prix weekend.

It marked the🎐 worst possible start for the 19-year-old who is entering his first full season after starring in three substitute appearances for Ferrari 🎀and Haas in 2024.

“I think just wa𒊎nting a bit too much, too soon - which is kind of my approach, which isn't rea♕lly the right one for F1,” Bearman admitted as he explained his high-speed shunt.

A baptism of fire for Bearman while his fellow, more inexperienced ro𓃲okies, all enjoyed trouble-free and cleꦍan days.