Listen to this article
Mixed Melbourne weather and Formula 1 data systems trouble resulted in frustratingly truncated first practice running for the 2023 Australian Grand Prix, where Red Bull led the way but faced rare issues.
Max Verstappen topped the times in the only fully-dry session on Friday at Albert Park in FP1, but had off-track moments and a dramatic spin late that session, while team-mate Sergio Perez also had struggled to keep his RB19 on the road.
Rain massively reducing running in FP2 meant the teams missed the usual long-run data-gathering that can help influence race predictions, but nevertheless there was plenty seen and unseen at Albert Park that could still impact the rest of the event.
Here’s everything we learned on Friday at the 2023 Australian Grand Prix.
The story of the day
In FP1, the pack had to contend with tw …