By DPA
Melbourne : World Champion Kimi Raikkonen, who last year won the title here in his maiden race for Ferrari, Friday posted the fastest time in the first free practice session for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park here.
Raikkonen had a time of one minute 26.461 seconds for the 5.303 km lap, beating last year’s second-placed driver Lewis Hamilton of McLaren-Mercedes who was .487 seconds behind, while Raikkonen’s team-mate Felipe Massa was .01 second behind Hamilton.
The second McLaren of Heikki Kovalainen was fourth-fastest ahead of local hero Mark Webber of the Red Bull and two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, who returned to Renault at the end of last season after a disappointing year with McLaren.
The two Force India drivers Giancarlo Fisichella and Adrian Sutil took their new team to 12th and 17th place respectively.
A second free practice session will be held later Friday, while the qualifying takes place Saturday.