Leclerc tops FP1 as Alonso misses session

Written by Jason Sharp

It’s finally time for the curtain opener on Formula One in 2026. After 89 days since Lando Norris took the title in Abu Dhabi, we finally had an official session on track. 

Credit: Formula One

In traditional fashion, the Albert Park Circuit is the venue that plays host to the first Grand Prix of the season. There hasn’t been this much anticipation before an F1 season in a long time. We have new teams, a new driver, and we’ve had the biggest change of regulations in the sport’s history. Nobody knows what the order will be. 

It was Ferrari who looked to be on the initial pace, as Charles Leclerc topped the session with a 1:20.267, ahead of his team mate Lewis Hamilton by 0.469 seconds, and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by 0.522 seconds.

Isaac Hadjar was P4 in his first session for Red Bull ahead of Britain’s youngest ever driver, Arvid Lindblad in P5. Oscar Piastri was P6 ahead of the two Mercedes, their pair of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli could only manage P7 and P8 respectively. Both Audis had a strong first session in F1, with Gabriel Bortoleto in P9 and Nico Hulkenberg in P10.

At the session's start, teams immediately faced the feared reliability issues - a big theme throughout this session. Oscar Piastri had a momentary loss of power on track, and rookie Arvid Lindblad stopped at the end of the pit-lane, bringing out the VSC while the Racing Bulls mechanics pushed his car back to the garage. 

Reigning champion Lando Norris had to end his session prematurely due to a gearbox issue, and Alex Albon had to stop after a hydraulic failure, bringing out the VSC once again. Sergio Perez suffered an engine braking issue in the closing moments, causing his Cadillac to spin at Turn 4 in what was their first ever F1 session. 

Credit: Formula One

Aston Martin’s abysmal time continued as Fernando Alonso couldn’t take part in the session due to a technical issue. The Aston Martin mechanics blocked all view of the car in the garage. Lance Stroll was able to make it onto the circuit, but had to end the session after only three laps due to a problem with his Honda power unit. His best lap time was 30 seconds off the pace.

Looking ahead 

The new cars are an incredible spectacle. They look to be a handful for the drivers, they’re louder and the active-aero looks spectacular. The question now is who is adapting to these regulations best; will Ferrari’s advantage stay this large or are other teams holding back? 

The other question is can the teams get to grips with the issues we’ve seen in this session? Will Aston Martin be able to conduct their much needed running or even qualify for the race? We’ve had a taste of this new era of F1, and now we need to wait and see what unfolds in FP2.