Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas dominate free practice at Australian Grand Prix

Then Hamilton went purple in his first sector and laid down a marker ahead of Saturday’s qualifying session with a time of 1min 22.600secs.

The Mercedes team, who have won the constructors championship for the last five seasons, look in imperious form with the remaining pack at least 0.8 seconds behind the 34-year-old Briton.

Such was the dominance of Mercedes that Hamilton’s quickest time on the slower medium compound – one minute 23.148 seconds – would have been good enough for second place.

Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc for Ferrari, under new management this season, managed to get within hundredths of a second in first practice but were left with food for thought.

The German, a four-time winner of the world championship, recorded a fastest lap of one minute 23.473 – an improvement of 0.164 seconds compared to FP1 and only good enough for fifth place.

His teammate Leclerc fared even worse, spinning out at turn five late in the session and finishing ninth in the classification, 1.154 seconds behind Hamilton.

Red Bull took third and fourth, with Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly separated by 0.042 seconds, while Renault’s Nico Hulkenberg and Australian Daniel Ricciardo found the pace they missed in the first session to come in seventh and eighth respectively.

Kimi Raikkonen, preparing for his 17th Australian Grand Prix, was a tenth of a second behind Vettel in his Alfa Romeo for sixth, with Haas driver Romain Grosjean rounding out the top ten 1.214 seconds off the pace of Hamilton.

Just as was the case in first practice, two of the British newcomers finished in the bottom three in second practice.

Lando Norris was more than two seconds behind the lead with a best lap of one minute 24.733 seconds in his McLaren – 0.6 seconds behind teammate Carlos Sainz – while the Williams duo of George Russell and Robert Kubica were at the back of the pack with a deficit of 3.853 and 4.055 seconds respectively.

Hamilton had bagged early bragging rights over rival Vettel after clocking the fastest time in opening practice. Ferrari may have had the edge after pre-season testing, but it was the Mercedes driver who set the pace with a lap of one minute 23.599 seconds on soft tyres.

In response to the reigning champion, Leclerc gave an indication of what the Ferrari was capable of, recording a lap of one minute 23.673 seconds, before Vettel went four-hundredths of a second quicker for second place with one minute 23.637 seconds.

Verstappen recorded a time of one minute 23.792 seconds, good enough for fourth place and was followed by Hamilton’s team-mate Bottas on one minute 23.866 seconds.

The midfield was a packed affair – with 0.682 seconds separating Raikkonen in sixth and Sergio Perez in 16th.

Daniil Kvyat in his Toro Rosso was 0.1 seconds quicker than Red Bull’s Gasly, with Haas driver Kevin Magnussen and Hulkenberg rounding out the top 10.

There was late drama in the session, with rookie Toro Rosso driver Alex Albon losing his front wing after a spin at turn two, leading to a red flag, while Bottas braked on the grass and nearly put his Mercedes in the wall at the penultimate corner.

Renault struggled, an electrical problem consigning Hulkenberg to the pits for the majority of the session and Ricciardo struggling to find pace on his home track with a deficit of two seconds behind Hamilton.

Albon is one of three rookies who will be making their F1 debut in Australia, with Britons Norris and Russell occupying two of the bottom three spots.

Norris was clearly keen to get his eye in at Albert Park, completing 31 laps with a fastest time of one minute 25.966 seconds for 18th place, while Russell was five seconds off the pace in 20th with a time of one minute 28.740 seconds.