As Formula One prepares to open a season the sport hopes will be a spectacular battle royale, it surely could not ask for a finer venue than Melbourne’s Albert Park to see things off in a suitably splendid fashion.
The true form for the year ahead has yet to be discerned from the opening day of practice in Australia. But with the cars fizzing with intent round the glorious circuit in the parkland in the heart of the city, it was a pleasure to welcome Australia back as the opening race of the season for the first time since the Covid pandemic brought proceedings to a desultory close here on the Friday before the race in 2020.
The atmosphere now could not be more markedly different. Melbourne welcomes F1 with an open enthusiasm that is all but, well, infectious. The city – alive with fans and entertainment around race week – epitomises the destination event the sport aspires to for all its meetings.
Local hero Oscar Piastri, who grew up just 15 minutes from Albert Park, might find it disconcerting given his smiling visage is everywhere. The Australian, who must be considered a potential title contender, even has his own signature wagyu burger on sale in local restaurants with the tagline, “All Taste, No Regrets”, boasting a black bun bedecked with McLaren-papaya sesame seeds – presumably a combination reached on the grounds that a bright orange bun with black seeds would not be quite as conducive to enjoying the Oscar-backed nosebag.
The circuit itself, in the park surrounding the lake populated with elegant, languid red-billed, black swans, has a bustling, festival atmosphere of colour and noise. Throbbing with fans even on the Thursday when there were already support series running, including the Supercars, whose race was briefly interrupted as the field thundered through the middle of a family of ducks crossing the track. Entirely unperturbed by the sound and fury around them, the ducks all waddled safely on to the gravel trap to better observe proceedings.
By Friday the circuit was heaving – the busiest that local observers had seen it for practice in several years. Knowledgable and enthusiastic, supporters of every team were represented in jovial good temper. They thronged the “Melbourne Walk”, inclusively also signed “Naarrm Yanith”, its title in the Woiwurrung language of the Wurundjeri people, the traditional owners of Melbourne’s Yarra River valley. It is the short path flanked by mini grandstands connecting the paddock to the car parks, where drivers arrive and where they are duly greeted with rock star levels of excitement.
This meeting then, knows F1 and knows its fans who had come to see how their heroes might fare in this anticipated opener; the final year of the current regulations, with the teams considered to have converged in terms of competitiveness for a weekend where the phoney war will come to an end and they will display their true hands.
McLaren had been touted as favourites since testing but their driver Lando Norris has been attempting to calm expectations ever since and continued to do so going into the weekend. “I feel like we’re in a similar playing field to the top other three teams,” he said.
Yet the team did draw first blood in topping the time sheets in what was a cagey first practice. Williams confirmed their promise from testing with Carlos Sainz in second, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was third but his new teammate, Lewis Hamilton, could manage only 12th. The defending champion, Max Verstappen, was fifth for Red Bull.
The Ferrari team principal, Fréd Vasseur, was unconcerned by Hamilton’s relatively lowly showing, as his driver was still adapting to his new team and his new ride. “It’s not that he has to be at the limit on one session, you know. It’s not a matter of speed,” he said. “You can’t draw a conclusion after a first session. I have absolutely no doubt that he will be able to perform and to perform soon. Last year I think that Carlos was P8 or P9 in free practice and he won the race.”
In the afternoon session, basking in the warm Victorian sunshine, the McLarens were once more rapid but it was Leclerc who had the advantage, quickest from Piastri and Norris, with Hamilton up to fifth and Verstappen in seventh. The Dutchman too had played down his chances for the opening race, concerned the team had not fully solved the issues that had stymied their car for the second half of last season and he may well now favour the rain predicted for Sunday, when Piastri, chock full of wagyu beef, must fancy his chances of being the first Australian to take as much as a podium place at their home grand prix.