Jenson Button led the first practice session in Australia on Friday giving McLaren a confidence boost ahead of the season opening race.
The 2009 world champion headed the field with a 1:27.560, a quarter of a second faster than his teammate, Lewis Hamilton, who ended second quickest.
The session started under wet conditions with just a few drivers daring to go out on wet tyres, avoiding the line of oil between turns one and four left by the historic cars which ran earlier in the day.
A few tentative laps later and some off-track excursions and Daniel Ricciardo posted the first time lap in the high 1:47’s.
As the circuit began to dry, more drivers headed out and the times began to fall. Felipe Massa was the biggest casualty as he dipped a wheel on the grass at turn nine and headed into the gravel backwards, beaching his F2012.
In the end it was Button from Hamilton, with Michael Schumacher completing thr top three. Fernando Alonso finished a further tenth back with Mark Webber in fifth, just under a second off the lead pace.
The top 16 cars were all covered within three seconds.
Neither HRT failed to set a timed lap with Pedro de la Rosa not even making it out for an installation lap after a rush against time to get his chassis ready for the session failed.
2012 Australian GP FP1 Results:
| # | Driver | Team | Time | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01. | J. Button | McLaren | 1:27.560 | 11 | |
| 02. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 1:27.805 | +0.245 | 14 |
| 03. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 1:28.235 | +0.675 | 17 |
| 04. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 1:28.360 | +0.800 | 21 |
| 05. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 1:28.467 | +0.907 | 21 |
| 06. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 1:28.683 | +1.123 | 22 |
| 07. | D.Ricciardo | Toro Rosso | 1:28.908 | +1.348 | 23 |
| 08. | P. Maldonado | Williams | 1:29.415 | +1.855 | 16 |
| 09. | K. Raikkonen | Lotus | 1:29.565 | +2.005 | 8 |
| 10. | K. Kobayashi | Sauber | 1:29.722 | +2.162 | 26 |
| 11. | S. Vettel | Red Bull | 1:29.790 | +2.230 | 21 |
| 12. | N. Hulkenberg | Force India | 1:29.865 | +2.305 | 17 |
| 13. | P. di Resta | Force India | 1:29.881 | +2.321 | 18 |
| 14. | B. Senna | Williams | 1:29.953 | +2.393 | 21 |
| 15. | S. Perez | Sauber | 1:30.124 | +2.564 | 22 |
| 16. | R. Grosjean | Lotus | 1:30.515 | +2.955 | 16 |
| 17. | H. Kovalainen | Caterham | 1:30.586 | +3.026 | 16 |
| 18. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 1:30.743 | +3.183 | 11 |
| 19. | J. Vergne | Toro Rosso | 1:31.178 | +3.618 | 17 |
| 20. | V. Petrov | Caterham | 1:31.983 | +4.423 | 8 |
| 21. | T. Glock | Marussia | 1:34.730 | +7.170 | 8 |
| 22. | C. Pic | Marussia | 1:40.256 | +12.696 | 11 |
| 23. | N. Karthikeyan | HRT | 3 | ||
| 24. | P. de la Rosa | HRT |
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