Australian Grand Prix: Charles Leclerc leads Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton in Melbourne testing

The Ferrari duo, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, struck the first blow in the new era of Formula 1 by recording the fastest times of first and second in the opening practice of the Australian Grand Prix.

Leclerc replaced Hamilton on pole with a late lap that left him 0.469 seconds behind the seven-time champion.

Even then, the distance between Hamilton, Leclerc and Red Bull driver Max Verstappen was less than 0.1 seconds.

Verstappen’s new colleague, Isaac Hagar, finished fourth, 0.820 seconds behind the lead, ahead of 18-year-old Briton Arvid Lindblad, who participated for the first time with the Racing Bulls team.

Aston Martin, whose poor form has been the story of the new season so far, had a predictably tough session.

Fernando Alonso was unable to run at all due to a problem with his Honda’s power unit. His teammate Lance Stroll only managed three laps before an engine problem was also discovered in his car.

Team principal Adrian Newey stunned Formula One on Thursday when he said the vibrations from the Honda engine were so bad that Alonso felt unable to do more than 25 laps without risking permanent nerve damage in his hands.

But this appears to be a different reliability issue for a well below par engine in Formula 1 after new rules were introduced this season.