Lewis Hamilton went fastest in first free practice of the new Formula one season with more than a half second advantage over his team mate Valtteri Bottas and seven tenths in front of Daniel Ricciardo in Red Bull.
Hamilton went fastest during his ultrasoft run with Mercedes being only team to use softest compound of Pirelli tyres while Valtteri Bottas made a mistake in final sector on his best lap but still finished second behind his team mate.
Red Bulls were third and fourth fastest with Ricciardo four tenths faster than Verstappen while Raikkonen and Vettel were fifth and sixth with more than a second behind Hamilton.
Williams was fastest of the midfield group with 1.9 second gap to Hamilton while Grosjean, Hulkenberg and Perez rounded up the top 10.
AUSTRALIAN GP FIRST FREE PRACTICE
| Pos | No | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:24.220 | 22 | |
| 2 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Mercedes | 1:24.803 | 0.583 | 25 |
| 3 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull TAG Heuer | 1:24.886 | 0.666 | 19 |
| 4 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull TAG Heuer | 1:25.246 | 1.026 | 19 |
| 5 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:25.372 | 1.152 | 16 |
| 6 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | 1:25.464 | 1.244 | 10 |
| 7 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams Mercedes | 1:26.142 | 1.922 | 28 |
| 8 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas Ferrari | 1:26.168 | 1.948 | 20 |
| 9 | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg | Renault | 1:26.183 | 1.963 | 15 |
| 10 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Force India Mercedes | 1:26.276 | 2.056 | 29 |
| 11 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso Renault | 1:26.450 | 2.230 | 24 |
| 12 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Toro Rosso Renault | 1:26.514 | 2.294 | 25 |
| 13 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Williams Mercedes | 1:26.734 | 2.514 | 29 |
| 14 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren Honda | 1:27.116 | 2.896 | 18 |
| 15 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber Ferrari | 1:27.348 | 3.128 | 30 |
| 16 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Force India Mercedes | 1:27.656 | 3.436 | 23 |
| 17 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | 1:27.667 | 3.447 | 20 |
| 18 | 94 | Pascal Wehrlein | Sauber Ferrari | 1:28.539 | 4.319 | 22 |
| 19 | 30 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault | 1:28.585 | 4.365 | 6 |
| 20 | 2 | Stoffel Vandoorne | McLaren Honda | 1:28.695 | 4.475 | 14 |
GALLERY
