A total of 1072 laps completed, using three sets of hard tyres and one set of soft tyres per car marked Pirelli's opening day of the Melbourne Grand Prix weekend, with local hero Mark Webber setting a time of 1:26.831 in the first free practice session and Jenson Button setting a time of 1:25.854 in free practice two.

Webber's fastest time in the first session was quicker than the fastest time set by Robert Kubica in the equivalent session last year of 1:26.927. Webber completed 20 laps on the hard compound, setting his quickest time towards the end of the session.

As usual, the grand prix weekend opened on Friday with two hour and a half long practice sessions. Ambient temperatures during both sessions were 17 degrees centigrade, with some light rain at the start of free practice two.

Most cars opted to use the hard PZero tyres in the first session, which have been nominated as the prime tyre for Australia, before switching to the option soft tyre for the bulk of the second session as they refined their race strategies.

The second session started with some intermittent rain, which washed away the small amount of rubber that had been laid down in the first session, but all the teams still managed to complete plenty of dry running with Sergio Perez covering the furthest distance at 39 laps. Button set his fastest time on the soft PZero tyres completing 32 laps.

Pirelli brought additional tyres to the circuit today to replace 20 tyres that had been damaged in transit by cold cracks: superficial splits in the rubber caused by cold ambient temperatures. This is a well-known phenomenon for slick tyres when they are being transported all over the world but it is a purely aesthetic issue that has no bearing on performance or integrity. The total number of substitute tyres was 54, in order to guarantee a reserve supply.

Pirelli Motorsport Director Paul Hembery: "We're pleased with our first outing under competitive grand prix conditions, as our tyres have already shown a good level of performance and durability. While the weather may have felt cold for Australia, these were actually some of the warmest conditions that we have run in recently, and already we can see that our rubber is working better at these temperatures. We're in for a very exciting weekend: even with all the information that we have at our disposal, it's still hard to predict exactly how all the action will unfold."

To check out our Friday gallery, click here.