Charles Leclerc has set the pace during the first practice session of the 2026 season, the Ferrari driver going quickest from team mate Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Amid the introduction of a technical regulations reset and plenty of anticipation, the brand-new cars were set to hit the Albert Park Circuit for their maiden practice outing at 1230 local time – and when the green light appeared, the Audi of Nico Hulkenberg was at the head of a queue of cars in the pit lane as they headed out on track.
Most of the pack emerged on circuit in the opening moments, which also marked the debut practice session for Cadillac in the squad’s maiden F1 season. There was early trouble for Oscar Piastri, who reported have “no power” in his McLaren, sparking a brief yellow flag before the home favourite got going again.
A Virtual Safety Car then followed after Racing Bulls’ Arvid Lindblad stopped at the exit of the pit lane, leading to the rookie’s challenger being wheeled back into the pit lane. Elsewhere, while Lance Stroll was sent out onto the circuit early on, Aston Martin announced that the other AMR26 of Fernando Alonso would not participate in FP1 due to a suspected power unit issue.
As the first timed laps went on the board – with the majority of the pack running the medium tyres – Verstappen initially put himself at the top of the timesheets during the opening quarter of the session before his time was bettered by Leclerc, the Monegasque setting a time of 1m 22.080s.
Lindblad, meanwhile, remained in the garage following his earlier issue as the times continued to tumble out on track, with Isack Hadjar briefly taking over in the P1 slot in his maiden practice hour as a full-time Red Bull driver before Leclerc resumed the position.
It was not all smooth-sailing on the circuit, with Verstappen experiencing a lock-up while Cadillac’s Valtteri Bottas reported being blocked by his former Mercedes team mate Hamilton.
As first practice reached its halfway point, Leclerc remained fastest on a 1m 21.227s, with a margin of 0.176s from Verstappen, while Hadjar sat third from Hamilton and Piastri, the latter getting some more mileage under his belt after spending time in the garage following his earlier problem.
Lindblad had also returned to the circuit as the pack continued to work through their run plans. Entering into the second half of the hour, George Russell was the first to bolt on the soft tyres, his first flying lap putting the Mercedes man in fifth place on the timesheets.
Others soon started to follow suit by heading out on the C5 compound, leading to further changes on the board – but the session looked to be over for Lando Norris, with McLaren confirming that the World Champion was back in the garage while his MCL39 underwent precautionary gearbox checks.
Hadjar reported a “big lock-up” out on track, the new Red Bull racer taking a trip over the grass as a result, while team mate Verstappen had returned to the top of the timesheets on a 1m 20.789s as FP1 entered into its final 15 minutes.
The yellow flags were waved when Alex Albon came to a halt at Turn 10, leading to a Virtual Safety Car while the Williams was recovered. There seemed to be no such problems for Hamilton, however, with the Ferrari having gone fastest at a track where he has claimed eight pole positions.
Sergio Perez spun off track as the session reached its last few minutes, the Cadillac driver reporting “engine braking” issues. And as the chequered flag fell to bring FP1 to a close, Leclerc pipped team mate Hamilton to the P1 slot, the eight-time race winner pumping in a 1m 20.267s to beat Hamilton by 0.469s as well as ending the hour with the highest lap count of 32.
Verstappen remained third from the other Red Bull of Hadjar, while rookie Lindblad caught the eye by going fifth quickest. Piastri claimed sixth place, ahead of the Mercedes pair of Russell and Kimi Antonelli and the Audi duo of Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto.
Haas’ Esteban Ocon placed 11th, from Williams’ Carlos Sainz, Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson, the sister Haas of Ollie Bearman and Albon. Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly slotted into 16th and 18th respectively for Alpine with Bottas sandwiched between them, while Norris wound up in 19th after his curtailed running. Perez classified 20th with Stroll 21st, the Aston Martin experiencing a suspected power unit issue.
The drivers and teams will now have a chance to reconvene and examine their data before Free Practice 2 takes place at 1600 local time.
.webp?ssl=1 "George Russell heads Mercedes 1-2 in opening practice session in Japan")
