MELBOURNE
\nMcLaren\u2019s Lando Norris outpaced world champion Max Verstappen on Friday to top the timesheets in a first practice in Melbourne that was disrupted when Alex Albon hit a wall at high speed.
\nThe Briton Norris powered round the Albert Park circuit with a best time of one minute 18.564 seconds on soft tyres.
\nHe grabbed the lead midway through the hour-long session from Red Bull\u2019s Verstappen, who responded with a lightning final lap to be 0.018 adrift.
\nVerstappen won the first two races of the season in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, but they were overshadowed by turmoil within the Red Bull camp.
\nThe 26-year-old vowed on Thursday to see out his contract until 2028 and is hoping to put off-track distractions behind him with records on the line at Sunday\u2019s Australian Grand Prix.
\nVerstappen is chasing a 10th consecutive victory to match his own record set last year, while Red Bull are attempting to score a third straight 1-2 finish for the first time in the team\u2019s history.
\nMercedes\u2019 George Russell was third ahead of Ferrari\u2019s Charles Leclerc, with RB driver Yuki Tsunoda a surprise fifth.
\nSergio Perez in the other Red Bull was sixth and Lance Stroll in an Aston Martin behind him.
\nFerrari\u2019s Carlos Sainz came eighth ahead of Mercedes\u2019 Lewis Hamilton.
\nIt was the Spaniard\u2019s first drive since surgery for appendicitis two weeks ago, which forced him to miss Saudi Arabia.
\nSainz said he would see how he felt after putting his body through practice before deciding whether to race.
\nOn a perfect autumn day, Hamilton was among the first out and the early pace-setter on medium tyres.
\nBut he complained about \u201ca long brake pedal\u201d on the radio and his time was quickly surpassed with Perez the first under 1:20.
\nThe times continued to tumble with Verstappen assuming the lead on his eighth lap on softs, four-tenths quicker than anyone else, before being knocked off top spot by Norris.
\nIn an eventful practice that reinforced the dangers of the circuit, Fernando Alonso skidded into the gravel at turn 11 while Russell almost lost control at turn 10.
\nValtteri Bottas spun his Sauber, also at turn 10, before Albon smashed into the wall at turn 8 in his Williams.
\nIt caused heavy damage on the right side of his car at the front and rear, leaving debris littering the track. Albon said on the team radio \u201cI\u2019m ok\u201d and climbed out, seemingly uninjured.
\nThe session resumed with nine minutes left, but no one could top Norris.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MELBOURNE McLaren\u2019s Lando Norris outpaced world champion Max Verstappen on Friday to top the timesheets in a first practice in Melbourne that was disrupted when Alex Albon hit a wall at high speed. The Briton Norris powered round the Albert Park circuit with a best time of one minute 18.564 seconds on soft tyres. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":395744,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-395734","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n