Hamilton fastest in second practice, but top teams appear close
Rain expected across qualifying and the race
Bottas, Ocon & Alonso all go off track
Kayleigh: Thanks for the post at 1:04, #bbcf1 . Just made the pic my lock screen image.
It's glorious isn't it Kayleigh? I cannot get enough of Fernando's expression.
Image source, Stoffel VandoorneSeveral times coming in now as Daniel Ricciardo goes quickest with 1:27.608. Like Sergey Sirotkin he is on ultrasofts.
Sirotkin also improves with 1:28.125 while Carlos Sainz gets up and running with 1:27.823.
Image source, Getty ImagesSergey Sirotkin puts in the first practice time of the year with a slow but steady 1:32.057 on ultrasofts.
Daniel Ricciardo, Sebastian Vettel and Lance Stroll are also back out.
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Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Melbourne
Williams. Now there is a thorny issue. The team had high hopes for the first new car designed under technical chief Paddy Lowe, who joined from Mercedes early last year, but so far things have not gone well.
The car is extremely difficult to drive - it’s got turn-in oversteer, and if it’s dialled out, it’s just slow. The most inexperienced driver line-up on the grid - among other possible descriptions - can’t help.
The impression is they could have a difficult start to the season and Lance Stroll - their most experienced driver, with one season under his belt at the age of 19, said: "We definitely have to be concerned because it's not a secret that everyone looks pretty good this year, so it's going to be competitive. But at the same time we just have to remain calm and wait to see what happens this weekend; where we stand.”
Sergey Sirotkin finally breaks the silence as he heads back out in the Williams.
Image source, Getty ImagesThe Jolyon Palmer column
Image source, .Speaking of Jolyon Palmer, who is part of the 5 live commentary team this season, he penned his first BBC Sport column this week and you can read it here.
Jolyon Palmer: "This is the calm before the storm. Everyone has been out and done a recce. Everyone is waiting for the track to clean up which will only happen when someone is driving on it. So everyone is waiting for someone to take the plunge."
Almost a quarter-of-an-hour gone and the track is silent after those installation laps.
Image source, Getty ImagesKayleigh: Haven’t been to sleep yet, alarm set for FP2 later on. 7am starts on sat and sun mean I’ll be up in plenty of time for the action too I’m so happy F1 is back! ❤️❤️
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Here come the Silver Arrows now.
Mixture of tyres in use through the field - some on softs, some on supersofts and others - like Lewis Hamilton - are on ultrasofts.
Everyone has been out for an installation lap apart from the two Mercedes.
Biding their time.
Renault first practice programme sees Nico Hulkenberg getting involved with a bit of datalogging. Carlos Sainz, meanwhile, is looking more at rear drum seals.
Stoffel has got well into this. Not so sure about Fernando, though...
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Busy start to the session as expected as pretty much all the teams send their drivers out early.
Romain Grosjean, Kimi Raikkonen, Marcus Ericsson and Fernando Alonso are all out there.
Darren Sheppard: Here we go, the moment we've all been waiting for.. to see just how much Mercedes were holding back in testing and are going to make a mockery of the field. They might even wait until tomorrow in Q3 to really let rip
Andrew Benson
BBC Sport’s chief F1 writer in Melbourne
Image source, Getty ImagesWith Mercedes installed as strong pre-season favourites, Sebastian Vettel’s first answer in Thursday’s news conference did not exactly exude confidence. Can you beat Hamilton and Mercedes, he was asked? “We don’t have the answer now. We try. It’s a long season. If it was one race it would be a different story, but it is a lot of races.”
Asked to clarify whether he was implying he felt they could not do it this weekend, Vettel was a little more positive. "We have all the reasons to be confident,” he said. “Our car is great. There’s stuff to come, so plenty to look forward to – but usually at this point you don’t know where the others are. So, that’s why it’s a bit pointless to come here and say that you’ll blow everyone away. Based on testing I think we are in good shape. We could be in better shape but it’s always like that.”
Green light and the first race weekend of the year is under way!
Sebastian Vettel's Ferrari is the first car out on track.
Audio commentary is LIVE right now online.
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TWO minutes to go until the first practice session of the 2018 season gets under way!
I can hear engines revving. Excitement at Christmas Eve level right now.
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