FORMULA 1: McLarens set the pace in Melbourne

McLaren's Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton put the misery of winter testing behind them with the quickest times on the first day of practice for the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on Friday.
The duo of British former world champions, who between them have won the Melbourne race for the last three years, had been expected to struggle after reliability problems dogged their pre-season testing and forced a rejig of their car this week.
Button clocked one minute 25.854 seconds for the fastest time of the day in the second session, however, with Hamilton 0.132 seconds behind in his best time as both drivers made the most of the track time.
Spain's Fernando Alonso, runner up in the title race last year, was third quickest for Ferrari in 1.26.001 to edge world champion Sebastian Vettel into fourth on the timesheets with a best lap of 1.26.014.
Vettel's Red Bull team mate Mark Webber, who is hoping to become the first Australian to win his home race on Sunday and topped the times in the earlier session, was fifth quickest ahead of Mercedes' seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher.
After a two-week delay caused by the postponement of the Bahrain round of the championship because of civil unrest in the Gulf kingdom, the 12 teams finally got the season underway in earnest under leaden skies at Albert Park.
Rain fell towards the end of the second session and more is forecast for Saturday, although Sunday is predicted to be dry for the race.
Mexican Sergio Perez finished an impressive eighth over both sessions in his Sauber, the best of the four rookie drivers.
The biggest cheer of the day came when Vitantonio Liuzzi emerged from the HRT garage for the team's first appearance on the track some two minutes from the end of the second session.
The Italian, who is partnered by Indian team mate Narain Karthikeyan at the team, managed a single lap before limping back to the pits.
Indian reserve driver Karun Chandhok's first drive in the Team Lotus car lasted less than a minute of the first session before he spun on the track and crashed into a barrier, smashing the front wing off the T128.