By Matt Beer and Jonathan Noble Friday, March 16th 2007, 00:34 GMT
World champion Fernando Alonso began his title defence in emphatic fashion by going fastest in the rain-affected opening practice for the Australian Grand Prix.
McLaren's new signing ended the 90 minute session 1.493 seconds ahead of nearest rival Felipe Massa, but the margin of superiority was slightly deceptive, for the majority of quick times were set in a frantic last gasp dash as the field only switched to dry tyres in the final three minutes.
BMW test driver Sebastian Vettel took third, with Lewis Hamilton making an impressive debut in fourth, ahead of Jenson Button and Williams reserve driver Kazuki Nakajima.
Although the new Friday practice format should guarantee more track activity for fans on the opening day of Grand Prix weekends in 2007, the wet weather meant a very subdued start to the first practice session of this year's championship.
With the track still damp, only BMW's Sebastian Vettel (who had the honour of being the first man onto the track this season), Spyker's Adrian Sutil and Toyota's Jarno Trulli dared to do more than an installation lap in the first half hour.
While the two young Germans swapped the top spot between them, Trulli's Toyota swapped ends - the Italian lucky to escape a spin at the fast Turn 11/12 chicane without damage.
Alonso joined the fray with an hour to go, and soon moved to first with a 1:42.878. By now, the track was drying considerably, and although it was still too damp for dry weather tyres, the times began tumbling and Albert Park became increasingly busy, with Jenson Button and Vettel both enjoying spells on top before Alonso reclaimed first position after 50 minutes.
The Ferrari duo did not even bother with installation laps until the session was two-thirds over, but once he got going Kimi Raikkonen quickly moved to the top of the pile - his 1:39.242 lap six-tenths quicker than Alonso's best at that point. Teammate Felipe Massa made it a Ferrari one-two shortly afterwards.
Then BMW lived up to their pre-season billing as Nick Heidfeld unleashed a series of fast laps with 24 minutes to go.
Taking full advantage of the drying track, he jumped from third to first - a second quicker than Raikkonen - then clipped 0.076 seconds from his time on the next lap before improving to a 1:37.249, nearly two seconds clear of the field at the time.
A dry line had been evident for most of the second half of practice, and finally with seven minutes to go Mark Webber (Red Bull) started the rush for 'slick' tyres.
The home crowd favourite immediately went fastest with a lap five seconds better than the best intermediate time, before going over the grass at Turn 1.
In the scramble that followed, Button went briefly quickest, Nakajima appeared in second, and Vettel made another appearance at the top of the timing screen before being narrowly pipped by Massa.
But with 40 seconds left, Alonso reasserted his authority in no uncertain terms - lapping in 1:29.214 to end opening practice quickest by nearly 1.5 seconds.
Massa's attempted response was stymied by traffic, prompting the Brazilian to wave his fist at Toro Rosso's Vitantonio Liuzzi.
Raikkonen did not get a clear run on dry tyres and ended up an unrepresentative 19th. To complete his less than perfect morning, he then received a 200 Euro fine for exceeding the pit lane speed limit by 11.7 km/h.
Inevitably given the conditions there were a number of minor incidents, but everyone managed to complete the session without damage.
Rubens Barrichello locked up and skittered over the grass at Turn 9 on his installation lap, both Renaults took brief excursions (twice in Heikki Kovalainen's case), and Christijan Albers went off the road at Turn 6 but rejoined.
Pos Driver Team Time Laps
1. Alonso McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:29.214 23
2. Massa Ferrari (B) 1:30.707 + 1.493 7
3. Vettel BMW Sauber (B) 1:30.857 + 1.643 22
4. Hamilton McLaren-Mercedes (B) 1:30.878 + 1.664 14
5. Button Honda (B) 1:31.162 + 1.948 15
6. Nakajima Williams-Toyota (B) 1:31.401 + 2.187 21
7. Coulthard Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:31.528 + 2.314 9
8. Kovalainen Renault (B) 1:31.571 + 2.357 20
9. Webber Red Bull-Renault (B) 1:31.661 + 2.447 16
10. Barrichello Honda (B) 1:31.737 + 2.523 12
11. Sato Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:31.782 + 2.568 7
12. Fisichella Renault (B) 1:32.011 + 2.797 14
13. Wurz Williams-Toyota (B) 1:32.194 + 2.980 18
14. Sutil Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:34.043 + 4.829 26
15. Liuzzi Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:34.627 + 5.413 8
16. Albers Spyker-Ferrari (B) 1:35.055 + 5.841 10
17. Heidfeld BMW Sauber (B) 1:37.249 + 8.035 12
18. Davidson Super Aguri-Honda (B) 1:39.221 + 10.007 6
19. Raikkonen Ferrari (B) 1:39.242 + 10.028 7
20. R.Schumacher Toyota (B) 1:39.550 + 10.336 9
21. Speed Toro Rosso-Ferrari (B) 1:41.763 + 12.549 9
22. Trulli Toyota (B) 1:44.130 + 14.916 11
All timing unofficial
