Practice One - McLaren set the Melbourne standard

Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton led the way for McLaren in Australia as the 2012 Formula One season officially got underway at Albert Park on Friday afternoon. Button pipped Hamilton by 0.245s with a lap of 1m 27.560s to 1m 27.805s, leaving the silver cars 0.6s ahead of another one, Michael Schumacher's Mercedes. The F1 W03's passive nasal F-duct had been cleared as legal by the FIA, and Schumacher was right on the pace to set the fastest time of 1m 28.235s, once the track dried after a heavy rain shower minutes before the session began at 12.30 local time.