Lewis Hamilton finishes seventh at first practice ahead of Australian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton finished a distant seventh in first practice for the Australian Grand Prix.

The seven-time world champion was 1.2 seconds adrift of pace setter Carlos Sainz, with his Ferrari team-mate and championship leader Charles Leclerc second at Melbourne’s Albert Park.

Sergio Perez took third ahead of his Red Bull team-mate Max Verstappen. British driver Lando Norris finished fifth for McLaren.

Formula One is back in Australia for the first time since the 2020 Grand Prix was cancelled at the eleventh hour because of Covid-19.

A record 410,000 fans are expected across the three days with the grandstands full for the opening running of the weekend.

Hamilton, who finished 10th at the last round in Saudi Arabia, is already 29 points behind Leclerc.

The Brit’s Mercedes team have not brought any major upgrades to Melbourne, and the Silver Arrows might be alarmed by their lacklustre early showing. Hamilton’s team-mate George Russell was four tenths behind in 12th.

Leclerc might lead the title race after the opening two rounds but the Monegasque endured a number of hairy moments in the first running, taking two trips across the gravel.

Sebastian Vettel was sidelined for the races in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia after testing positive for Covid-19.

The four-time world champion is back in action this weekend, but his first outing ended prematurely following an engine failure.

Vettel came to a halt with smoke billowing out of his Aston Martin. He then rode a moped back to this pits, waving to the crowd.

Home favourite Daniel Ricciardo finished eighth in his McLaren. The concluding practice session takes place at 4pm (7am UK).ends

Hamilton has already been cast 29 points adrift in the championship race after he finished only 10th