Australian Grand Prix: Bitter row breaks out between Ferrari and Red Bull as Lewis Hamilton sets the pace

Maurizio Arriabene and Christian Horner clashed over the appointment of former FIA safety chief and deputy race director Laurent Mekies as the new season got underway

He might have had visibility problems with the halo head protection device that has characterised the look of the new 2018 cars, but for reigning world champion Lewis Hamilton it was business as usual when the season finally kicked off with the first practice sessions for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne’s Albert Park on Friday.

The Englishman’s Mercedes topped the times in both 90-minute sessions, heading teammate Valtteri Bottas by half a second in the morning and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by 0.127s in the afternoon.

The main action of the day came between Red Bull and Ferrari, however, off the track. Following the recent announcement that Ferrari had poached safety chief and deputy race director Laurent Mekies from the FIA, team boss Maurizio Arrivabene clashed with Red Bull’s Christian Horner who alleged that the Italian team had ignored a gentlemen’s agreement between the teams concerning the recruitment of F1 personnel.

This followed controversy created last year when Renault signed the governing body’s technical director Marcin Budkowski. Rival teams claimed that both men were privy to their technical secrets, and according to Horner it had been agreed that in such instances there should be a period of 12 months’ ‘gardening leave’ to prevent employees departing with technical knowledge that might have current value.

Arrivabene denied that such an agreement existed.

“There is nothing wrong with that,” he said. “We were respecting absolutely local law, the Swiss local law, where Laurent was hired. Afterwards we went even further than that because we gave him six months of gardening leave.

“However, having said that, what we have discussed before is that we have signed a confidentiality agreement that means we are not allowed to discuss or share in public what we discuss there.

“Having said so, I heard comments related to a supposed or so-called ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ and I think they are comments because a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ under labour law is illegal.”

Horner disagreed. “For me it is a big deal because the disappointing element about this is that we have a thing called the Strategy Group where the FIA, FOM and all team principals attend and we discussed the Marcin issue where there was great unrest about a key member of the FIA going to a team.

“Renault diluted that by putting him on an extended gardening leave but then ensued a conversation about it being unacceptable – every team found it unacceptable.

“There was an understanding and a clear statement by the teams to say ‘right, let’s have a clear position that there should be at least a period of 12 months in the garden for a member of a team going from either FIA/FOM to a team or from a team to vice-a-versa’.”

Horner claimed a 'gentleman's agreement' had been broken by Ferrari (Getty)

While that argument was going backwards and forwards, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff joked that he had not seen any gentlemen in the room when the agreement was made. Earlier, he had denied suggestions that he was interested in forming a breakaway championship with Ferrari, in the wake of their mutual disappointment with the proposed engine regulations for 2021 and beyond.

“Categorically, that is not on our radar,” he said. “We are committed to making Formula One work in its current format.”

Maurizio Arrivabene defended Ferrari's actions and claimed everything they had done had been 'legal' (Getty)

The second session provided a better indication of potential performance, as the track became grippier as more rubber went down, and everyone set their times the softest Pirelli tyres, using the ultrasoft compound. Verstappen’s performance confirmed Hamilton’s feeling that Red Bull would be a serious threat, and he edged out Bottas by a fraction. As Hamilton lapped in 1m 23.931s, Verstappen’s best was 1m 24.058s to Bottas’s 1m 24.159s.

“Coming to the first race, you really have no idea what it’s going to be like,” Hamilton said. “You don’t know how you’re going to feel physically, you don’t know how the tyres are going to react to the circuit. But we started on the right foot today, we got through everything we needed. It closed up a little bit in FP2 in terms of the gap between us all, but that’s exciting. It’s more challenging for me to try and eke out a little more time from the car.

“The tyres definitely don’t seem to have the same issue that we had in Barcelona where they were blistering, so it felt a lot more normal. Obviously the car is quicker here that it was last year, so it feels better everywhere. Turns 11 and 12 are crazy. We’re not even braking into that corner, it’s insane.”

Verstappen finished practice in second behind Hamilton (Getty)

Verstappen said: “For me this has been a positive start to the weekend so I am really happy about that. The car has behaved well on this track, which is always pleasing after only running in Barcelona to date. Of course we have only done two practice sessions so it is still hard to see who is strongest. It’s a bit of a guess when you come to the first circuit of the season. It takes at least two or three Grands Prix to understand what is going on, it then also depends on everyone’s development rate throughout the year.

“Our race pace looks good, but I think there is definitely some room for improvement. Mercedes look pretty strong, but I’m not concerned with how it looks at the moment.”

Ferrari were close, with Kimi Raikkonen on 1m 24.214s but Sebastian Vettel’s best of 1m 24.451s was disappointing, especially as Romain Grosjean provided the surprise of the session by lapping his Ferrari-powered Haas within two tenths of the German.

Local hero Daniel Ricciardo had been within a tenth of Verstappen when his best lap was terminated by a red flag when a section of errant cable on the start/finish line had to be removed. He thus ended the session seventh, but received a three-place grid penalty for Saturday’s qualifying session and two penalty points on his licence for failing to slow down sufficiently when the red flags came out.

Daniel Ricciardo has been given a three-place grid penalty (Getty)

As expected, the upper midfield fight was close-run. Between Grosjean in sixth and rookie Sergey Sirotkin’s Williams in 18th, 12 cars were covered by 1.3s.

McLaren’s day started badly with neither car running until the final 20 minutes after Fernando Alonso’s sustained an exhaust problem and Stoffel Vandoorne’s was kept in for checks. They ended the day eighth and 10th, however, as Kevin Magnussen in the second Haas took ninth.

It was a less good day for Renault, with Carlos Sainz 11th and Nico Hulkenberg 13th, and for Force India, with Sergio Perez 12th and Esteban Ocon 15th.

Rain is expected tomorrow and, possibly, for the race on Sunday. “I haven’t driven yet in the rain on these tyres,” Hamilton said, “so that’ll be interesting.”