Lewis Hamilton didn’t miss the chance to top the first session of the year and set the fastest time on Free Practice 1 at the Albert Park Circuit. The Red Bulls have finished 2nd and 3rd in a session with complicated weather conditions.
The 2016 season started with a wet track and Vettel‘s Ferrari on full wet tyres. Some dared to go on track on intermediate tyres, but only the Mercedes set a timed lap in the first 20 minutes of the session. Checo Pérez had some early problems on his Force India and had to be pushed back to his box in the pit lane.
30 minutes into the session, the drivers started using dry tyres, while Carlos Sainz‘s car had some technical issues and entered the pit lane very slowly. 5 minutes later, a new rain shower faded all the excitement and the Renaults were the only cars who stayed on track with intermediates.
The sun shone again at the end of the session and drivers went back on track on dry tyres with 20 minutes to go. Max Verstappen spun on his Toro Rosso and barely saved the crash.
The last 10 minutes sum up what the session was: it rained, the track got dry, and it rained again. The last raindrops made Ricciardo end his session on the gravel. Even though the times matter very little, Lewis Hamilton started the year on top of the timesheet ahead of the Red Bulls of Kvyat and Ricciardo. Hülkenberg, Verstappen, Rosberg, Alonso, Button, Pérez and Magnussen completed the top 10. Sebastian Vettel and Carlos Sainz, who was able to go back on track at the end of the session, didn’t even set a timed lap.
| Pos. | Car | Driver | Team | Lap Time | |
| 1 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes AMG | 1:29,725 | |
| 2 | 26 | Daniil Kvyat | Red Bull Racing | 1:30,146 | + 0,421 |
| 3 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | Red Bull Racing | 1:30,875 | + 1,150 |
| 4 | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg | Force India | 1:31,325 | + 1,600 |
| 5 | 33 | Max Verstappen | Toro Rosso | 1:31,720 | + 1,995 |
| 6 | 6 | Nico Rosberg | Mercedes AMG | 1:31,814 | + 2,089 |
| 7 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | McLaren | 1:33,060 | + 3,335 |
| 8 | 22 | Jenson Button | McLaren | 1:33,129 | + 3,404 |
| 9 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Force India | 1:33,370 | + 3,645 |
| 10 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Renault Sport F1 Team | 1:34,060 | + 4,335 |
| 11 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Williams | 1:34,550 | + 4,825 |
| 12 | 19 | Felipe Massa | Williams | 1:34,679 | + 4,954 |
| 13 | 12 | Felipe Nasr | Sauber | 1:34,796 | + 5,071 |
| 14 | 30 | Jolyon Palmer | Renault Sport F1 Team | 1:35,477 | + 5,752 |
| 15 | 9 | Marcus Ericsson | Sauber | 1:37,956 | + 8,231 |
| 16 | 94 | Pascal Wehrlein | Manor F1 Team | 1:40,401 | + 10,676 |
| 17 | 7 | Kimi Räikkönen | Ferrari | 1:40,754 | + 11,029 |
| 18 | 21 | Esteban Gutiérrez | Haas F1 Team | 1:41,780 | + 12,055 |
| 19 | 88 | Rio Haryanto | Manor F1 Team | 1:43,372 | + 13,647 |
| 20 | 8 | Romain Grosjean | Haas F1 Team | 1:43,443 | + 13,718 |
| 21 | 5 | Sebastian Vettel | Ferrari | -:–:— | – |
| 22 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Toro Rosso | -:–:— | – |