Lando Norris tops first practice session as Ollie Bearman crashes out

Lando Norris topped the first Formula One practice session of the new season as British teenager Ollie Bearman crashed out and Lewis Hamilton could manage only 12th.

Prior to Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix, Norris is the bookmakers’ favourite to claim his first world championship and the McLaren driver saw off Williams’ Carlos Sainz by 0.149 seconds with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc third.

Hamilton, making his much-anticipated Ferrari debut, ended the one-hour running at Melbourne’s Albert Park, interrupted by two red flags, eight-tenths off the pace and more than half-a-second adrift of Leclerc.

Bearman made three appearances last season, one for Ferrari and two for Haas, and impressed to land a promotion to the grid this year – one of six rookies in 2025.

However, Bearman ended up in the wall with 22 minutes remaining after he ran through the gravel on the exit of Turn 10 and hit the wall.

The right-rear wheel tore off his Haas with the front-right tyre crumpling underneath.

“I am sorry,” said the 19-year-old on the radio before he emerged from his cockpit following the high-speed crash. An 11-minute delay followed as Bearman’s wrecked Haas was recovered with Sainz, at that stage, the surprise pacesetter.

But when the action resumed, Norris bumped Sainz off top spot. Norris’ McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri finished fourth, one place ahead of four-time world champion, Max Verstappen.

Hamilton, 40, makes the move to Ferrari after three difficult seasons with Mercedes.

The seven-time world champion insisted on Thursday that he is not feeling the pressure and has nothing to prove, but he would have hoped to show more speed in the first session after he finished nine places behind Leclerc.

“I am struggling to turn the car,” he said over the radio.

Earlier, the running was red-flagged with gravel on the track after Alpine rookie Jack Doohan ran wide.

The second practice session starts at 4pm local time (5am GMT).