Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen drove the fastest lap in the first practice session before the Australian Grand Prix.

The 25-year-old Dutchman steered his Red Bull around the Melbourne circuit in 1:18.790 minutes and landed a good four-tenths of a second ahead of ex-champion Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes. Behind the Brit, Mexican Sergio Perez finished third in the second Red Bull. Nico Hülkenberg had to settle for 13th place in the Haas racing car.

Problems with the GPS system meant that the training had to be interrupted for several minutes. The difficulties made it impossible for the teams to observe the vehicle's position and the approach speeds on the track. Therefore, for safety reasons, the red flag was waved until the location was working again. Shortly before the end, the 60-minute session was canceled prematurely because Williams newcomer Logan Sargeant had to park his car right next to the track with technical problems.

Before the third race of the season on Sunday (7:00 a.m. CEST/Sky), Verstappen, who spun in training, is one point ahead of Perez in the overall standings. So far, both have won one Grand Prix each. Third is the Spaniard Fernando Alonso from Aston Martin, Hülkenberg is still waiting for his first championship point of the year.