» 2013 Australian GP: Vettel tops opening practice session at Albert Park

Sebastian Vettel has kicked off his tilt for a fourth World Championship crown in a row in solid style, by topping the timesheets in the opening practice session of the 2013 season at the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix at Albert Park.

The German shaded Felipe Massa by just seven-hundredths of a second in a session where few runners clocked much in the way of mileage on Pirelli’s new-for-2013 tyres.

With temperatures much hotter than the conditions in which the field had run their pre-season tests in Europe, this would prove the first real test of the year where the teams could gather meaningful data on how the new tyres would degrade in warmer temperatures.

However, qualifying and the race will occur much later in the afternoon – and therefore in cooler conditions – meaning the teams opted to limit their mileage this time around.

It took over half an hour before the first timed lap was posted – that honour went to local boy Daniel Ricciardo with a very leisurely 1m36s effort – before his team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne moved ahead.

The Toro Rosso pair briefly traded fastest times as they worked their way below the 1m30s mark, before the frontrunners came out for some time on the track.

Kimi Räikkönen, Massa and Fernando Alonso and Vettel emerged to jostle for top spot on the timesheets, with Vettel ultimately prevailing with a time that remained unchallenged for the final fifteen minutes of play. Alonso was third-fastest.

Behind the leading trio, Lewis Hamilton showed promise on his first competitive outing with Mercedes and finished fourth-quickest, while fan favourite Mark Webber was fifth-quickest in the other Red Bull entry.

Räikkönen was the quicker of the Lotus entries in sixth place, while Nico Rosberg was seventh-fastest in the other Mercedes.

Adrian Sutil marked his return to Force India with the ninth-fastest time, performing solidly in comparison to team-mate Paul di Resta, who spun into the Turn 6 kitty litter in the closing minutes of the session.

2013 Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 Session Times:

	Driver	Team	Time	Gap	Laps
1.	Sebastian Vettel	Red Bull Racing Renault RB9	1:27.211		16
2.	Felipe Massa	Scuderia Ferrari F138	1:27.289	+ 0.078	17
3.	Fernando Alonso	Scuderia Ferrari F138	1:27.547	+ 0.336	16
4.	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W04	1:27.552	+ 0.341	18
5.	Mark Webber	Red Bull Racing Renault RB9	1:27.668	+ 0.457	18
6.	Kimi Räikkönen	Lotus F1 Renault E21	1:27.877	+ 0.666	17
7.	Nico Rosberg	Mercedes AMG Petronas F1W04	1:28.013	+ 0.802	17
8.	Adrian Sutil	Force India Mercedes VJM06	1:28.426	+ 1.215	19
9.	Jenson Button	McLaren Mercedes MP4-28	1:28.440	+ 1.229	19
10.	Romain Grosjean	Lotus F1 Renault E21	1:28.520	+ 1.309	15
11.	Sergio Pérez	McLaren Mercedes MP4-28	1:28.597	+ 1.386	19
12.	Nico Hülkenberg	Sauber Ferrari C32	1:28.786	+ 1.575	19
13.	Paul di Resta	Force India Mercedes VJM06	1:28.910	+ 1.699	18
14.	Pastor Maldonado	Williams Renault FW35	1:29.443	+ 2.232	20
15.	Valtteri Bottas	Williams Renault FW35	1:29.928	+ 2.717	19
16.	Esteban Gutiérrez	Sauber Ferrari C32	1:30.203	+ 2.992	17
17.	Jean-Éric Vergne	Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR8	1:30.729	+ 3.518	17
18.	Daniel Ricciardo	Scuderia Toro Rosso Ferrari STR8	1:30.969	+ 3.758	19
19.	Jules Bianchi	Marussia Cosworth MR02	1:31.263	+ 4.052	24
20.	Max Chilton	Marussia Cosworth MR02	1:32.176	+ 4.965	23
21.	Charles Pic	Caterham Renault CT03	1:32.274	+ 5.063	21
22.	Giedo van der Garde	Caterham Renault CT03	1:32.388	+ 5.177	18