Australian GP: Maldonado eighth in FP1

The 2012 Formula One season would get underway with the opening practice for the 2012 Australian Grand Prix. For the Williams F1 team both Pastor Maldonado and Bruno Senna would complete their installation laps returning to their pits. The track had been decalred wet after overnight rain, followed by light showers just before the session started.

It would be Ricciardo who would set the first time with a 1m:47.448, followed by a 1m:43.669. The lap times would come down as the track conditions improved with Ricciardo setting a 1m:41.001 followed by team-mate Vergne with a 1m:40.946. A drying line would start to appear but the intermediate tyre was the tyre of choice. Alonso would complete a timed lap on the intermediate tyre setting a 1m:37.941.

As the session progressed it would be Kobayashi who would set a new quickest time with a 1m:36.906. For the Williams team Bruno was down in fifth with a time of 1m:38.633. Pastor was amongst a large group of drivers who had yet to set a time, no doubt waiting for the track conditions to improve. The track had cleared and it would be Kobayashi who would be first out running on the hard slick tyre. He would set a 1m:31.751, to be over six seconds faster than second placed Rosberg.

Kobayashi's next lap would se a 1m:30.761 while Webber was now second with a 1m:34.613. Bruno was back out on the track joined by Pastor. On his first lap he would set a 1m:34.941 to be third. As more driver went faster it would be the two Mercedes cars at the front with Schumacher fastest, 1m:28.235, from Rosberg who has previously been fastest.

Kobayashi was now third from Webber, Bruno, and Vettel. Bruno had improved his time with a 1m:30.474. Pastor was down in tenth with a time of 1m:31.096. Hamilton would jump up to fifth with a 1m:29.987. The order would change again as Alonso moved into fourth with a 1m:29.291. Bruno was now ninth and Pastor twelfth. Webber was able to move up to second prior to pitting. Bruno had also returned to the pits, while Button had come out for his first run. Hamilton was now second with a 1m:28.290 while for Massa he would spin his car into the gravel at Turn nine after running over the wet grass at the side of the track.

After a quick stop Button would return to set a 1m:27.650 to go fastest. He would improve with a 1m:27.642. Schumacher was now second from Hamilton, Alonso, Webber, Rosberg, Ricciardo, and Kobayashi in eighth. For Williams Pastor was now ninth with a 1m:29.734 while Bruno was twelfth with a 1m:30.474. With only a few minutes remaining the track was very busy while for Red Bull Vettel was down in thirteenth. Neither of the HRT's had set a time. Button had improved with a 1m:27.560.

Hamilton would improve with a 1m:28.259 but remained third. Pastor was able to improve in the final moments with a 1m:29.518 to be eighth. Despite finding time with a 1m:29.953 he would drop to fourteenth at the end of the session. Hamilton had again lowered his time with a 1m:27.805 to be second. Schumacher was third from Alonso, Webber, Rosberg, Ricciardo, Pastor, Raikkonen, and Kobayashi in tenth.

Pos  Driver         	   Team		   	  Time      Laps
 1.  Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m27.560s 11
 2.  Lewis Hamilton        McLaren-Mercedes       1m27.805s 14
 3.  Michael Schumacher    Mercedes               1m28.235s 17
 4.  Fernando Alonso       Ferrari                1m28.360s 21
 5.  Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault       1m28.467s 21
 6.  Nico Rosberg          Mercedes               1m28.683s 22
 7.  Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m28.908s 23
 8.  Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault       1m29.415s 16
 9.  Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault          1m29.565s 8
10.  Kamui Kobayashi       Sauber-Ferrari         1m29.722s 26
11.  Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault       1m29.790s 21
12.  Nico Hulkenberg       Force India-Mercedes   1m29.865s 17
13.  Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes   1m29.881s 18
14.  Bruno Senna           Williams-Renault       1m29.953s 21
15.  Sergio Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1m30.124s 22
16.  Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault          1m30.515s 16
17.  Heikki Kovalainen     Caterham-Renault       1m30.586s 16
18.  Felipe Massa          Ferrari                1m30.743s 11
19.  Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m31.178s 17
20.  Vitaly Petrov         Caterham-Renault       1m31.983s 8
21.  Timo Glock            Marussia-Cosworth      1m34.730s 8
22.  Charles Pic           Marussia-Cosworth      1m40.256s 11
23.  Narain Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth           no time   3
24.  Pedro de la Rosa      HRT-Cosworth           no time   0