Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton sent an early signal that he could again be the driver to beat in Formula One this season, setting the swiftest time in the Friday's practice sessions at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix.

After earlier playing down his team's chances against Ferrari and Red Bull, Hamilton set a one-lap time of 1 minute, 23.931 seconds on a bright, clear afternoon at the 5.303-kilometer (3.295-mile) Albert Park circuit, and showed superior long-run pace with the lowest average lap time on ultrasoft tires, as well.

The gap between Hamilton and Red Bull's Max Verstappen was relatively small, however, with the 20-year-old Dutch driver turning in a fastest lap time of 1:24.058, just over 0.1 behind Hamilton.

"It's good to get started again," Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff said. "We've had a pretty good test, much better than last year. But you're never very sure where that will end up in the first race."

Hamilton's teammate Valtteri Bottas, who lost practice time after going off the track into the gravel in Friday's second session, was 0.1 second behind Verstappen in third place, followed by the Ferrari cars of Kimi Raikkonen and Sebastian Vettel in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton of Britain, right, comes up behind another car during the first practice session at the Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne, Friday, March 23, 2018. The first race of the 2018 seasons is on Sunday. (AP Photo/Asanka Brendon Ratnayake)

"Obviously, difficult to read too much into times, but you start to get a bit of an idea and you can see Mercedes really taking off where they left off (last year)," Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said. "I'm envisaging a quite tight battle with (Ferrari), but I'm not sure at the moment what the delta is to Toto (Wolff's) cars."

Vettel, who pushed Hamilton hard last season and had spoken of Ferrari's improvement in the off-season, was a surprising 0.5 second behind the defending world champion.

In another big surprise, Romain Grosjean showed good pace in his Haas car, setting a fastest time of 1:24.648, just ahead of Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo.

McLaren also rebounded from a dismal start to the day to see its drivers, Fernando Alonso and Stoffel Vandoorne, post the eighth- and 10th-fastest times, respectively. Both drivers were stuck in the garage for much of the first session with exhaust issues in their cars.

The drivers in the middle of the pack after Mercedes, Red Bull and Ferrari were as tightly grouped as expected, with less than a second separating Alonso in eighth with Sergey Sirotkin of Williams in 18th.

The closeness of Verstappen to Hamilton, as well as the cluster of times in the middle of the field, sets up the prospect of an exciting qualifying session on Saturday. Another factor may be the weather as showers are forecast for both Saturday's qualifying and Sunday's race.

Toro Rosso driver Brendon Hartley, right, of New Zealand meets fans as he arrives at the track at the Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne, Friday, March 23, 2018. The first race of the 2018 seasons is on Sunday. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

 

Mercedes: F1 teams need to work together to avoid split

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said Friday that Formula One teams have a responsibility to try to overcome their differences over the future of the sport in the face of a threat by Ferrari to quit because of a number of proposed changes.

Bernie Ecclestone, who ran F1 for 40 years before being replaced by new owners Liberty Media last year, has raised the possibility that Ferrari chairman Sergio Marchionne could walk away from F1 and form a breakaway series over Liberty's future vision for the sport.

Ferrari is unhappy with Liberty's proposal to simplify engines and redistribute prize money among F1 teams after the current contract with teams expires at the end of 2020.

Ferrari team boss Maurizio Arrivabene would not comment on the specifics of Marchionne's previous comments at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Friday, but said: "My only suggestion, please take him seriously."

Renault driver Nico Hulkenberg of Germany drives down pit lane during the first practice session at the Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne, Friday, March 23, 2018. The first race of the 2018 seasons is on Sunday. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

Wolff is also taking the possibility of Ferrari walking away seriously. He told Britain's Press Association before the Australian GP that he agreed with Marchionne's concerns and that Formula One can't afford to alienate Ferrari or lose the team.

"Don't mess with Sergio Marchionne," he said. "Formula One needs Ferrari much more than Ferrari needs Formula One."

Wolff was more diplomatic on Friday, saying he hopes all sides could come together for the good of the sport.

"I think this as much a battle on track as much as it is a fight off track for an advantage," he said. "It is clear the current governance and how the rules are being made is not very functional. There's too much different opinions and agendas on the table and we need to sort it for 2021 for the best interest of the sport."

Red Bull boss Christian Horner agreed there are too many competing agendas, suggesting that the FIA-Formula One's governing body-and Liberty Media come together to decide on a set of regulations and financial framework for the next contract and the teams can then decide if they want to accept it or not.

Sauber driver Charles Leclerc of Monaco drives down pit lane during the first practice session at the Australian Formula One Grand Prix in Melbourne, Friday, March 23, 2018. The first race of the 2018 seasons is on Sunday. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

"Trying to get a consensus between teams that have varying objectives, different set-ups, is going to be impossible," he said. "It's history repeating itself. It happens every five or six years, every time the Concorde Agreement comes up for renewal."

Tempers also flared during Friday's media conference over another issue of contention between the teams — Ferrari's recent hiring of FIA's ex-safety director, Laurent Mekies.

Horner believes Ferrari broke an agreement among teams at a recent meeting to institute a 12-month waiting period for any former employee of FIA or FOM (Formula One Management) to be able to start working for one of F1's teams. The concern is that former FIA staff who go to work for a specific team could share secrets from other teams.

"Certain teams were pushing for that period to be three years, but in the end it was agreed upon being 12 months," he said. "It almost makes those meetings pointless if we can't agree on something and action it."

Arrivabene defended Ferrari's move, saying Mekies would not join its team until after a six-month "gardening leave" period.

"There is nothing wrong with that because we were absolutely respecting the local law, the Swiss local law where Laurent was hired," he said.