A selection of the best pictures from the first race weekend of the season.
Jean-Eric Vergne, Friday practice
F1 newcomer Jean-Eric Vergne gets cracking on the first day of the new season, kicking up spray in the wet practice on Friday.
Michael Schumacher, Friday practice
Michael Schumacher demonstrated Mercedes’ potential by setting the fastest time as the track dried in the second session.
Fernando Alonso, qualifying
Fernando Alonso persevered in a difficult weekend with the unco-operative Ferrari F2012.
Romain Grosjean, qualifying
A superb lap saw Romain Grosjean secure third on the grid on his F1 comeback with Lotus.
Mark Webber, qualifying
Mark Webber pauses for a moment’s reflection after out-qualifying team mate Sebastian Vettel.
Australian Grand Prix start
Lewis Hamilton took pole position but didn’t hold his lead for long as team mate Jenson Button beat him off the line.
Heikki Kovalainen, Australian Grand Prix
Heikki Kovalainen wrestles with the Caterham CT01 during the race.
Timo Glock, Australian Grand Prix
Timo Glock rounds Albert Park lake on his way to finishing 14th – an impressive feat given Marussia’s lack of pre-season testing.
Sebastian Vettel, Australian Grand Prix
The evening light catches Sebastian Vettel as he returns to the pits after finishing second.
McLaren, Australian Grand Prix
Button celebrates his third Australian Grand Prix win in four years.
More Australian Grand Prix pictures
- 2012 Australian Grand Prix in pictures
- 2012 Australian Grand Prix qualifying in pictures
- 2012 Australian Grand Prix practice in 100 pictures
- 2012 Australian Grand Prix build-up in pictures
2012 Australian Grand Prix
Browse all 2012 Australian Grand Prix articles
Images ?é?® Red Bull/Getty images, Daimler/Hoch Zwei, Ferrari spa, Lotus F1 Team/LAT, Red Bull/Getty images, McLaren/Hoch Zwei, Caterham/LAT, Marussia, Red Bull/Getty images, McLaren/Hoch Zwei
PT (@pt)
19th March 2012, 16:05
This is a great feature Keith! Really enjoyed it.
arowan (@arowan)
19th March 2012, 16:36
agreed
ivz (@ivz)
19th March 2012, 16:39
I really like this. Some great shots!
SamS (@sams)
19th March 2012, 16:06
Great Pictures, love the Shumacher one
F1Underground (@realf1underground)
19th March 2012, 16:35
Great pics but sad not to see Sauber & force india in top 10 pics.
French Steve (@french-steve)
19th March 2012, 17:03
I love the Webber’s picture.
Dejan Milosavljevic (@kimster381)
19th March 2012, 17:41
I like the Webber picture to …..
Bullfrog (@bullfrog)
19th March 2012, 21:33
The photo galleries from Melbourne have been superb. Where do the pictures come from?
Are they all available on teams’ or agencies’ websites (as the credits suggest)? Must be time-consuming, but enjoyable, sorting through them all!
James (@jamesf1)
19th March 2012, 21:50
Vettel’s picture as mind boggling. Looks so epic, almost looks like it’s been lifted from a trailer from F12010 or F12011!
IDR (@idr)
19th March 2012, 22:46
Keith, you give us the best available pictures of internet. A pity best ones always come from Red Bull Racing.
Amazing pictures!
Thanks for this.
BasCB (@bascb)
20th March 2012, 19:15
Indeed, really nice.
Djxo2
19th March 2012, 23:13
Great feature! love it when you see the humanity of F1. A deep breath, a side ways car, a glimmer of light, a shadow of hope
Eggry (@eggry)
20th March 2012, 1:45
Sleepy Mark…:D
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
20th March 2012, 13:45
@eggry Maybe he’s doing that visualisation thing that Vettel does prior to a race? ;)
forzaferrari (@forzaferrari)
20th March 2012, 2:18
I had a great time at the Australian GP this weekend. I have posted some photos on my facebook page if anyone wants to have a look. I have plenty more if anyone is interested. Please search Kristian Zadro in facebook. I believe I have posted the photos as public. Although nowhere near as good as the photos above there are some interesting up close shots of the cars in scrutineering.
mhammad (@abocaesar)
20th March 2012, 9:37
Hi can i ask u to download mp4-27 photo in the same resolution from media center off Mclare ?
pls try the resolution is very Grate
Thanks
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
20th March 2012, 10:15
@abocaesar At present the cost of hosting F1 Fanatic makes offering larger images (which would substantially increase the amount of traffic being served) impossible.
For information on how you can contribute to the cost of hosting the site, see here:
https://www.racefans.net/contribute-f1-fanatic/
Tyler
20th March 2012, 9:46
Could Hamilton’s smile (last photo) look any more forced? We kept hearing about his new mindset, but his body language post-race was just like last year.
Great pics btw.
Stiggosaurus (@stiggosaurus)
20th March 2012, 13:13
I picked up on that as well. He sticks out like a sore thumb, doesn’t he?
Sergiu (@nofumbles)
20th March 2012, 20:59
Awesome pics! Schumacher, Grosjean, Glock and Vettel pics are amazing.