Australian Grand Prix: Charles Leclerc leads Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton in Melbourne practice

Mercedes had come to Melbourne tipped as the favourites after pre-season testing but they had a low-key session and George Russell ended the session seventh fastest, 1.104secs off the pace and behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

Both Russell and team-mate Kimi Antonelli were struggling with understeer while the engine’s energy deployment through the hybrid system was also not as optimised as they had hoped.

Team principal Toto Wolff said: “A difficult birth for us. We were not in such a good place on the chassis or power-unit side, but all things are surmountable, so interesting, exciting challenges to overcome in second practice.”

As always, the caveat of practice is that it is impossible to know the specifications in which the cars run and fuel loads and engine modes can have a significant effect on performance.

McLaren had a difficult session afflicted by gearbox problems and world champion Lando Norris was down in 19th place.

Antonelli was eighth fastest, ahead of the Audi of Gabriel Bortoleto, whose team-mate Nico Hulkenberg took the final spot in the top 10.

Haas driver Esteban Ocon was 11th, split from British team-mate Oliver Bearman by Williams’ Carlos Sainz and the second Racing Bull of Liam Lawson.

Valtteri Bottas was 17th for the new Cadillac team with team-mate Sergio Perez 20th.