1. George Russell (Mercedes) - 1:32.377

2. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.324

3. Oscar Piastri (Mclaren) +0.462

4. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.794

5. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.842

Image source, Getty Images

Oscar Piastri is able to move his McLaren up the order to third pace, but the Australian is 0.462 seconds away from George Russell's quickest time. Are Mercedes the team to beat this weekend?

Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc is off the track around Turn Two after a snap in the Ferrari. The Monegasque driver suffers a slight spin and kicks up some gravel, so a dash back to the pits to check the floor and those medium tyres is in order.

Image source, Getty Images

Lewis Hamilton has been keen to stress these first races with Ferrari will be a learning curve, but the seven-time world champion said he was in the "deep, deep end" after his first outing for the Italian team.

Hamilton qualified eighth in Melbourne and while he did lead briefly when the rain came down late on, a wrong strategy call drop him down the field and he finished his debut race in red in 10th place.

Team radio communication is another area that will take time evolve between Hamilton and his new engineer, Riccardo Adami. This is how he viewed their messages during last week's race:

"Naturally, everyone overegged, it was literally just a back and forth I was very polite with how I suggested it. I said, ‘Leave it to me, please’. I wasn't saying ‘F you’. I wasn't swearing.

“It was just at that point I was really struggling with the car, and I needed full focus on these couple things."

And now he's just received two different messages in his ear.

Lando Norris has aborted one lap, so the Briton winds up another attempt in the McLaren on the mediums. The rear of the car slides out in one sector and he runs wide in another, leaving him seventh on the timesheets.

Fernando Alonso had a difficult day in down under, crashing out in the Aston Martin last weekend. His engineer asks about the tailwind in Shanghai, with the Spaniard responding the conditions are the same for every team.

The track is beginning to fill up again as drivers head out for more running on the medium tyres. This is the only practice session teams will get to gather data for Sunday's race, so every second counts.

With time being so precious, someone fiddling with your steering wheel is not ideal. Pierre Gasly has fallen foul to this, telling Alpine pit wall "all the switches are wrong".

Kimi Antonelli's five-second penalty for an unsafe release was successfully overturned after an appeal by Mercedes, so the Silver Arrows left Melbourne level on points with constructors' champions McLaren at the top of the standings.

Williams and Sauber spent 2024 at the bottom of the pile but with a driver each in the top 10 last weekend, both teams can look down on Ferrari after the opening round.

Image source, Getty Images/BBC Sport

The season is in its infancy so the pecking order won't mean much for a good few races yet. However, there are some new faces sitting in the top 10 after the first race in Australia.

While usual suspects Lando Norris and Max Verstappen are fighting it out at the top of the standings, the Williams of Alex Albon and Sauber's Nico Hulkenberg are parked above both Ferraris and McLaren's Oscar Piastri after impressive drives at a soggy Albert Park.

Image source, Getty Images/BBC Sport

Image source, Getty Images

Six rookies started in Melbourne but only two survived the rainy chaos of the Australian Grand Prix; the sight of Racing Bulls' Isack Hadjar distraught after crashing out on the formational lap set the tone for how difficult the season-opener would be for the new drivers.

Jack Doohan, Gabriel Bortoleto and Liam Lawson joined Hadjar on the chopping block, while Haas' Oliver Bearman and Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli - who drove from P16 to fourth place - were the only rookies to finish round one.

1. George Russell (Mercedes) - 1:32.377

2. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.500

3. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.794

4. Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.842

5. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.907

George Russell was driving a lonely race in fourth until drama unfolded in front of him and he was able to claim the final podium place in Melbourne.

The Mercedes man is on a fast lap here in Shanghai and is 0.140 seconds behind quickest runner Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari. He crosses the line and pulls half a second on the Monegasque driver with a time of 1:32.377 on the medium compound.

A week later and those Melbourne ponchos would have been back out. But the weather gods have smiled on the Chinese Grand Prix and this weekend's event will be warm and sunny for the fans in the grandstands.

Today's first practice and sprint qualifying will see highs of 24 degrees and zero chance of rain. For the sprint race and main grand prix, the temperatures increase and the wet stuff stays away.

Oscar Piastri almost delivered Melbourne fans their first taste of a home driver on the podium but Mother Nature and the slippery Albert Park circuit had other ideas. The Aussie rain wide at Turn 12 with 13 laps to go and ended up stuck on the wet grass and although he managed to free himself and finish the race in the points, it was a devastating moment for the 23-year-old.

Can he put the right the wrongs of his home race? He goes quickest with a time of 1:33.336, but tells his McLaren pit wall the car feels "nervous in the high speed".

Times are tumbling in the bright sunshine in Shanghai. Pierre Gasly, Max Verstappen and George Russell have all put down fastest times but last week's race winner Lando Norris goes one better than the trio with a 1:33.362 on his latest medium run.

The field is out on the medium tyres and already Alex Albon in the Williams and Red Bull's Liam Lawson have already taken trips across the gravel. "There's something loose around the pedals," Albon tells his pit wall.

Is the revamped circuit going to cause some issues this weekend? Yuki Tsunoda doesn't think so. "The track is quite grippy compared to last year," the Racing Bulls driver says.

The other Williams of Carlos Sainz tops the early timesheets with a 1:34.504.

The Shanghai International Circuit has been completely resurfaced before the 2025 event, adding an extra challenge for not only the teams, but also tyre supplier Pirelli this weekend.

For the first sprint race of the campaign, teams and drivers will be given the same compounds as last year: the C2 as the white hard, C3 as the yellow medium and C4 as the red soft.

The temperature could also play a part in Shanghai, with this year's race being held a month earlier than last season.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent

Tougher tests aimed at restricting the flexibility of rear wings have been introduced for this weekend's Chinese Grand Prix.

An FIA statement said that after analysing footage from cameras at the Australian Grand Prix aimed at studying rear wing deformation, "sufficient grounds exist for a tougher test to be introduced" immediately.

This test will, for the race in Shanghai, limit the gap that can open between the rear wing mainplane and flap to 0.75mm when a 75kg vertical load is applied to it in the pits.

That includes a 0.25mm tolerance permitted on the basis of the short notice involved that will be removed for the following race in Japan on 4-6 April, reducing the permitted gap during the test to 0.5mm.

In Australia, this so-called 'slot gap' had been permitted to open no more than 2mm.

There was very sad news yesterday as Eddie Jordan, the former Formula 1 team owner and television pundit, died at the age of 76.

The Irishman, who had prostate cancer, passed away in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Former world champion Damon Hill, who won Jordan's first F1 grand prix in Belgium in 1998, paid tribute to his former team boss.

You can also read Andrew Benson's obituary, 'Eddie Jordan, the flamboyant deal-maker of Formula 1', here.

One practice session to get things right before we set the grid for the sprint race.

Image source, Getty Images

The Australian Grand Prix was an opener worth feeling tired and groggy, as the turn in the weather from Saturday's sunny qualifying session caused drama from lights out to the chequered flag.

Lando Norris put his McLaren on pole position in Melbourne and triumphed in a wet race that had crashes, safety cars and six drivers failing to make to the end.

It didn't all go Norris' way from pole; the Briton briefly lost the lead after pitting for intermediate tyres late in the grand prix. But lady luck was on his side and now for the first time in over 1,000 days a driver other than Max Verstappen leads the drivers' championship.

Hello, folks. The 2025 Formula 1 season is up and running and following Lando Norris' victory in Australia, we move to round two in Shanghai, China.

The weekend is full throttle from start with it being a sprint event, so teams and drivers only get one dress rehearsal to get things right.

First practice gets under way at 03:30 GMT.

Sprint qualifying goes green at 07:30 GMT.

Full commentary of both sessions is available on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra, BBC Sounds, at the top of this page using the 'listen live' tab and by asking BBC Sounds to play Chinese Grand Prix followed by the current session via most smart speakers.