Nico Rosberg set the fastest time in the first free practice session for Mercedes of the Australian Grand Prix setting a 1:29.557 early on in the session.

For a while no one could get close to Rosberg’s time. His teammate Lewis Hamilton came to within 0.029s later on in the session setting a 1:29.586.

Valtteri Bottas finished the session in P3 for Williams 1.191s off Rosberg’s pace. Non of the other drivers could come to within a second of the Mercedes pair. Rookie Carlos Sainz Jr finished P4 for Toro Rosso while his teammate ended up in P6.

Sebastian Vettel finished P5 for Ferrari with a 1:31.029 and team mate Kimi Raikkonen ending his session in P8. Felipe Massa was 7th in the other Williams while Pastor Maldonado ended with P9 for Lotus. Romain Grosjean in the other Lotus languished in P16 after having to change the floor on his Lotus. After a hydraulic problem and a little spin, Daniel Ricciardo finished in P10 with a 1:31.570, 2.013s off the pace of Rosberg up front. His teammate Daniil Kvyat finished in P11.

The Force India pair of Sergio Perez and Nico Hulkenberg ended their session in P12 and P13 respectively while it was another day of issues at McLaren. They had to end their session early due to a mechanical issue on a power component in the engine. They should be back out for FP2.

The ongoing legal battle between Giedo van der Garde and Sauber meant that they did not run any of their cars for the session.

The Manor F1 team were also absent from FP1 as they did not have enough time to update their engine software. They hope to be out for FP2.