With the Williams car running large car numbers on their side pods, as well as an AT&T logo on the airbox, The opening Friday practice for the 2011 Australian GP would get underway. Pirelli would be supplying their soft and hard compounds for this weekend. They had also given each driver and additional set of hard tyres for Fridays sessions. One of the concerns over the Pirelli tyres was their degradation so the teams would be keen to sort out whether this will be an issue in Australia.

At Lotus, Karun Chandhok will be replacing Kovalainen joining Trulli in this session, Daniel Ricciardo is in for Alguersuari at Toro Rosso and Hulkenberg will stand in for Paul di Resta at Force India. Chandhok would surprisingly crash his car coming out of Turn three damaging his front wing and his rear left tyre. Certain parts of the track were slippery from earlier rain. AT&T Williams driver Pastor Maldonado would leave the pit lane joined shortly after by Rubens Barrichello who would also complete his installation lap while more drivers would take to the track.

With drivers continuing their untimed laps it would be Pastor who would set the rist time with a 1m:39.381. But he would be passed by Massa with a 1m:31.184. But Massa would take a run across the gravel at Turn three. Sutil was second but Hamilton would move ahead but at the front it would be Webber who was to go fastest with a 1m:29.552. Massa was now second with Hamilton third.

Webber's pace would improve seeing him set a 1m:28.217 taking the top spot from Hamilton who had set a 1m:29.033. Pastor would set a 1m:31.968 to be down in eleventh. Rubens was now in seventh with a 1m:30.652. At the front Button had moved up to second, 1m:28.440, but Vettel would move ahead of the McLaren with a 1m:28.434.

With thirty four minutes remaining Rubens would improve with a 1m:29.627 followed by a 1m:28.975 to be fifth. Pastor was now back out on the track while Rubens would go fastest in the middle sector, finishing with a 1m:28.489 but would remain fifth. While this was happening Vettel would go fastest with a 1m:27.669. Webber was now second from Button, Hamilton, Rubens, Massa, Perez, Buemi, Sutil, and Pastor.

Rubens would pit with just under thirty minutes left in the session. We had yet to see times from the likes of Alonso, Rosberg, Schumacher, and Heidfeld. But Rosberg would set a 1m:29.040 to jump up to sixth. Pastor was now twelfth with a 1m:30.954. Schumacher was now seventh with a 1m:29.135. Both Red Bull cars had pitted.

Massa had dropped to eighth, 1m:29.572, but on his next lap he would set a 1m:28.927 to move into sixth. Neither of the HRT cars had set a time as Rubens returned to the track. Heidfeld and Petrov were fifteenth and sixteenth. Schumacher had pitted but Rosberg continued to circulate around the track. Pastor would pit with just over twenty minutes remaining.

Alonso had yet to set a time but had completed nine installation laps. Rosberg would pit while Button, Hamilton and Massa were all back on track. Alonso's first time was a 1m:29.436 to see him tenth. Alonso would improve to sixth fastest with his next lap of 1m:28.819. Massa would lock up his front tyre at Turn one taking to the grass.

After completing seventeen laps Rubens would pit. While Alonso would move up to second with a 1m:27.958 splitting the two Red Bull cars. Pastor had now dropped to sixteenth. Button and Hamilton were fourth and fifth. Alonso was on a quicker lap seeing him set a 1m:27.749, to be just 0.01 behind Vettel. Kobayashi was now in tenth and his Sauber team-mate Perez twelfth, 1m:29.686. Alonso would pit with ten minutes remaining.

Rosberg and Schumacher were eighth and ninth. Pastor would continue to put in laps and he got to grips with the Melbourne track. Rubens was now also back out as Pastor improved to fourteenth with a 1m:30.242 to be 2.5 seconds off the quickest times. Vettel and Webber had returned to the track as the final minutes counted down. Rosberg would improve with a 1m:28.152 to go third. Rubens was now in seventh, 1m:28.489, while Kobayashi had improved to be eighth, 1m:28.725.

Massa was now tenth followed by Heidfeld, Ricciardo, Perez, Buemi, and Pastor who had dropped to fifteenth. Webber was back up to first with a 1m:27.450 but Vettel would move ahead with a 1m:27.158. Alonso was now third behind Webber as the session drew to a close. Pastor had found some time setting a 1m:29.403 which saw him thirteenth. Rosberg was now fourth from Button and Hamilton as the session ended. Right at the end Webber would move ahead of Vettel with a 1m:26.831 to be 0.327 ahead of Vettel.

So it would be Webber fastest from Vettel, Alonso, Rosberg, Rubens, Button, Hamilton, Schumacher, Kobayashi, and Petrov in tenth. Rubens on his last lap would set a 1m:28.430 to take him into fifth. An encouraging start fro the Williams team. Pastor would finish in fifteenth but hopefully he will find time as he learns this new circuit.

Pos  Driver         Team		   Time       Laps
 1.  Webber         Red Bull-Renault       1m26.831s  20
 2.  Vettel         Red Bull-Renault       1m27.158s  19
 3.  Alonso         Ferrari                1m27.749s  20
 4.  Rosberg        Mercedes               1m28.152s  16
 5.  Barrichello    Williams-Cosworth      1m28.430s  24
 6.  Button         McLaren-Mercedes       1m28.440s  29
 7.  Hamilton       McLaren-Mercedes       1m28.483s  26
 8.  Schumacher     Mercedes               1m28.690s  14
 9.  Kobayashi      Sauber-Ferrari         1m28.725s  13
10.  Petrov         Renault                1m28.765s  15
11.  Massa          Ferrari                1m28.842s  20
12.  Heidfeld       Renault                1m28.928s  14
13.  Sutil          Force India-Mercedes   1m29.314s  19
14.  Buemi          Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m29.328s  21
15.  Maldonado      Williams-Cosworth      1m29.403s  24
16.  Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari     1m29.468s  23
17.  Perez          Sauber-Ferrari         1m29.643s  18
18.  Hulkenberg     Force India-Mercedes   1m31.002s  20
19.  Kovalainen     Lotus-Cosworth         1m32.428s  13
20.  d'Ambrosio     Virgin-Cosworth        1m35.282s  17
21.  Glock          Virgin-Cosworth        1m35.289s  15
22.  Chandhok       Lotus-Cosworth         1:30.695   1
23.  Liuzzi         HRT-Cosworth           no time
24.  Karthikeyan    HRT-Cosworth           no time