F1 Australian Grand Prix: Carlos Sainz goes fastest in first practice
8th April 2022Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz topped the first practice session of the Australian Grand Prix weekend, ahead of his teammate Charles Leclerc, as Formula 1 finally returned to Melbourne.
As the pit exit light went green, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas were the first drivers to venture onto the Australian track.
In the early stages of FP1, there was an incident between Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Alfa Romeo’s Guanyu Zhou. As the two drivers ventured around the penultimate corner, Sainz blocked off Zhou as the two started their fresh fast laps. As a result, race control announced the incident was to be investigated after the race.
Within the first 15 minutes, it wasn’t long until the front runners topped the timing sheets. Verstappen topped the timing board early on with a 1:20.909, on the red-stripped soft compound tyres.
The Dutch world champion was nearly one second faster than Mclaren’s Lando Norris (who had completed his fastest lap on the medium tyres) and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc (who was on the hard tyre), who were second and third respectively.
The red flag was soon brought out after a chunk of carbon fibre was found on the racing line. The chunk had dislodged itself from Sergio Perez’s Red Bull when he ran over the kerb on the final corner.
With 25 minutes left on the clock, Leclerc pipped Verstappen at the top of the timing board with a 1:20.825, as the field started to complete soft tyre runs.
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen took an adventure across the gravel trap, at the turn three run-off area. The Dane locked up into the third corner and couldn’t keep his car out of the gravel. Fortunately, Magnussen was able to keep his car going and escaped the run-off area.
With less than 15 minutes left, Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel was forced to pull off to the side of the track as his powerunit failed on him, between turns nine, 10 and 11. The red flag was quickly brought out as the four-time world champion jumped from his AMR22 before he tackled his car with a fire extinguisher.
However, the car was quickly removed from the track and the session was soon back under green flag conditions.
By the end of the first session, Sainz remained at the top of the timing board with a 1:19.806 lap – 0.571 seconds faster than Leclerc.
That’s it for the article: F1 Australian Grand Prix: Carlos Sainz goes fastest in first practice! What do you think, will the new configuration of Albert Park improve racing? Let us know in the comments!
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.