Twilight visibility 'worse' than usual

(GMM) The first 'twilight' session in formula one was held on Friday, where the shadows were long and the sun low in the sky.

The later timetable, culminating in qualifying and the race to be held at 5pm local, was installed to create a more civilized time for the vast European television audiences to rise from their beds.

Drivers got a taste of things to come in Australia with a 90 minute practice session in the late afternoon.

"It is a little bit worse (than usual) but it is not a big problem and hopefully it will be fine for everyone, but there is no doubt that it is better at 2 o'clock for us in terms of visibility," said double world champion Fernando Alonso at Albert Park.

The visibility was not so bad that anyone complained about a safety issue, but there were moments when drivers radioed the pits to explain that shadows from trees, or sun glare, distracted them.

At least one driver went off track, apparently as a direct result of glare.

Brawn's Jenson Button, moreover, is understood to have told his engineer that sun reflection prevented him from reading his digital steering wheel display at times.

"Because it (the sun) is that low, in terms of looking in the mirrors and some of the corners you don't see as clearly as you see at 2 o'clock," Spaniard Alonso continued.

"But it was not a huge problem and it will be fine, I am sure," he added.