Australia GP: Webber tops practice 1
Mark Webber and Red Bull were fastest in opening free practice for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne. Webber's 1m26.831s, set on a new set of Pirelli's hard 'prime' tires on the final lap of the session ensured he fired an early shot to Vettel – the German ending up some 0.0327s behind after a late run of his own.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso was third fastest, more than half a second behind Vettel, and ahead of Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg in 4th.
These times are largely meaningless because the track was green and dusty in the first session.
Results
| Pos | Driver | Team | Time | Behind | Laps |
| 1. | Webber | Red Bull-Infiniti | 1m26.831s | +0.000 | 20 |
| 2. | Vettel | Red Bull-Infiniti | 1m27.158s | +0.327 | 19 |
| 3. | Alonso | Ferrari | 1m27.749s | +0.918 | 20 |
| 4. | Rosberg | Mercedes | 1m28.152s | +1.321 | 16 |
| 5. | Barrichello | Williams-Cosworth | 1m28.430s | +1.599 | 24 |
| 6. | Button | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m28.440s | +1.609 | 29 |
| 7. | Hamilton | McLaren-Mercedes | 1m28.483s | +1.652 | 26 |
| 8. | Schumacher | Mercedes | 1m28.690s | +1.859 | 14 |
| 9. | Kobayashi | Sauber-Ferrari | 1m28.725s | +1.894 | 13 |
| 10. | Petrov | Renault | 1m28.765s | + 1.93 | 15 |
| 11. | Massa | Ferrari | 1m28.842s | +2.011 | 20 |
| 12. | Heidfeld | Renault | 1m28.928s | +2.097 | 14 |
| 13. | Sutil | Force India-Mercedes | 1m29.314s | +2.483 | 19 |
| 14. | Buemi | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1m29.328s | +2.497 | 21 |
| 15. | Maldonado | Williams-Cosworth | 1m29.403s | +2.572 | 24 |
| 16. | Ricciardo | Toro Rosso-Ferrari | 1m29.468s | +2.637 | 23 |
| 17. | Perez | Sauber-Ferrari | 1m29.643s | +2.812 | 18 |
| 18. | Hulkenberg | Force India-Mercedes | 1m31.002s | +4.171 | 20 |
| 19. | Kovalainen | Lotus-Cosworth | 1m32.428s | +5.597 | 13 |
| 20. | d'Ambrosio | Virgin-Cosworth | 1m35.282s | +8.451 | 17 |
| 21. | Glock | Virgin-Cosworth | 1m35.289s | +8.458 | 15 |
| 22. | Chandhok | Lotus-Cosworth | 1:30.695 | +4.894 | 1 |
| 23. | Liuzzi | HRT-Cosworth | no time | – | – |
| 24. | Karthikeyan | HRT-Cosworth | no time | – | – |