Lando Norris added impetus to his favourite tag for this year’s F1 drivers’ title by posting the leading time in an opening practice session for the Australian Grand Prix that was hit by two red flags.
With Williams’ Carlos Sainz out in front, in the dying stages of the hour-long run at Melbourne’s Albert Park, Norris posted a lap of 1:17.252s on Pirelli’s soft tyres, finishing 0.149s clear of Sainz, the Spanish driver in his maiden race weekend outing for his new team.
Sainz had the edge by 0.060s over his former Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc in third, with home hero Oscar Piastri four-tenths of a second adrift of Norris in fourth, with the Australian narrowly ahead of four-time champion Max Verstappen in his Red…