Le nuove regole introdotte in questa stagione con l'intenzione di aumentare la velocità delle monoposto e di conseguenza lo spettacolo hanno subito mantenuto le promesse. Lewis Hamilton ha infatti firmato la miglior prestazione nella prima giornata di prove libere che ha dato ufficialmente il via al Mondiale 2017 di Formula 1 con il tempo di 1'23"620, circa mezzo secondo più veloce del primato stabilito da Michael Schumacher nel 2004. A Melbourne il britannico ha preceduto di 0"547 il tedesco della Ferrari Sebastian Vettel e di 0"556 il suo nuovo compagno alla Mercedes, il finlandese Valtteri Bottas.
Le Sauber hanno purtroppo ricominciato da dove avevano chiuso il 2016, ovvero dai bassifondi della classifica. Lo svedese Marcus Ericsson si è classificato al 15o posto con un distacco di 2"878 da Hamilton, mentre il tedesco Pascal Wehrlein si è piazzato 18o a 3"299.
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