Robert Kubica set the quickest time of practice one in Melbourne, a 1:26.927, two-tenths quicker than second placed man Nico Rosberg.
The session suffered from two red flags, both of which were caused by Kamui Kobayashi in his Sauber. The first of which was caused when the rookie driver hit a kerb cone, ripping half of his front wing clean off.
The second looked as though the front wing failed at turn three. The problem could have possibly been linked to his previous off, but has yet to be confirmed by the team.
That wasn’t the only bad news for Sauber. Pedro de la Rosa ground to a halt after turn four ending his session early.
Paul di Resta debuted for Force India in a Friday test role, replacing Adrian Sutil who will takeover the seat for second practice.
He managed to come within four tenths of Vitantonio Liuzzi’s time.
Times for Friday practice one:
| 01 | R. Kubica | Renault | 1:26.927 | 22 |
| 02 | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:27.126 | 18 |
| 03 | J. Button | McLaren | 1:27.482 | 22 |
| 04 | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:27.511 | 18 |
| 05 | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:27.686 | 23 |
| 06 | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:27.747 | 21 |
| 07 | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:27.793 | 22 |
| 08 | S. Buemi | Toro Rosso | 1:28.014 | 21 |
| 09 | V. Petrov | Renault | 1:28.114 | 25 |
| 10 | V. Liuzzi | Force India | 1:28.192 | 19 |
| 11 | P. di Resta | Force India | 1:28.537 | 21 |
| 12 | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:28.550 | 22 |
| 13 | J. Alguersuari | Toro Rosso | 1:28.572 | 13 |
| 14 | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:28.683 | 18 |
| 15 | P. de la Rosa | Sauber | 1:29.465 | 13 |
| 16 | R. Barrichello | Williams | 1:29.712 | 18 |
| 17 | N. Hulkenberg | Williams | 1:30.249 | 26 |
| 18 | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:31.588 | 5 |
| 19 | J. Trulli | Lotus | 1:31.652 | 13 |
| 20 | H. Kovalainen | Lotus | 1:31.654 | 26 |
| 21 | L. di Grassi | Virgin | 1:32.831 | 25 |
| 22 | B. Senna | Hispania | 1:33.401 | 24 |
| 23 | K. Chandhok | Hispania | 1:34.251 | 19 |
| 24 | T. Glock | Virgin | 1:34.925 | 8 |
All timing unofficial
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