Alex Albon suffered a heavy crash in a surprisingly dramatic and tight opening Australian Grand Prix Formula 1 practice session that featured several near-misses and was topped by Lando Norris.

Albon caused a red flag with around 20 minutes of the session remaining when, just as he set a personal best first sector, he ran over the exit kerb at the fast Turn 6 right-hander that was reprofiled a couple of years ago.

The kerb strike jolted the Williams, unsettled the car quickly but violently and spat it into the wall on the right-hand side.