Sainz leads from Leclerc, Fireman Vettel is back- Australia GP 2022 FP1

The first Formula 1 Practice session at the newly revamped Albert park in Australia got off to an interesting start.

Vettel returns, but only for a while

Sebastian Vettel was back in the pits after missing not one, but 2 races after he contracted Covid.
His luck however ran out when his car began smoking from the rear. Seb being Seb, couldn’t stop himself from helping out the marshals as the 4-time Formula 1 world champion operated the fire extinguisher and helped to quickly push his car off the track so that the session could resume quickly.

 

Fireman Seb is quickly on the scene 👨‍🚒🧯#AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/eGiOUX98zf

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 8, 2022

Perez gets the better of Max

Sebastian Vettel’s incident was the 2nd instance where the red flag was displayed. The first was when a part of Sergio lost a large bit of bodywork from the back of his Redbull. Sergio Perez was on testing duty during the first quarter of the session. Perez had his car fitted with Aero Rakes as he tested out two new front wings on the circuit. despite this, he managed to finish the session with a faster lap time than max Verstappen as he continued his impressive form following his maiden Formula 1 pole position last week.

 

Aero testing is on the menu in FP1 for @SChecoPerez 💨#AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/h1y5yirQ8d

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 8, 2022

Ferrari Dominance

Charles Leclerc and Sainz continued where they left off as the Ferrari cars looked seriously quick, Son of WRC Legend Carlos Sainz Sr, finally managed to beat his Leclerc as the Spanish driver looked to get on top. Sainz however is under investigation by F1 officials for impeding the Alfa Romeo of Zhou.

Lewis Hamilton was also under investigation for impeding Lance Stroll as the session got underway. Hamilton however managed to put his car into P7 while his teammate struggled and managed to get p12.
McLaren managed to get both of their cars into the Top 10, with Norris in P5 Behind Max Verstappen and Riccardo in P8 behind Lewis Hamilton.

The final standings at the end of FP1 looked like this

FP1 CLASSIFICATION

The red cars come out on top in first practice 💪#AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/1G4Y26PS37

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 8, 2022