F1: World champion Fernando Alonso settled for fifth spot as the top drivers all took it easy in today's practice session for the Australian Grand Prix.
The Spaniard drove well within his limits as he lapped a windy Albert Park circuit in a best time of one minute, 27.443 seconds during the two 60-minute sessions.
With all of the teams adopting a cautious approach to conserve their engines and tyres for Sunday's race, the top three times were all recorded by test drivers.
Briton Anthony Davidson set the fastest time of 1:26.822 in a Honda just ahead of Austrian Alexander Wurz in a Williams and Sauber's Polish driver Robert Kubica.
Jenson Button of Britain, also driving a Honda, set the fastest time amongst the actual race drivers, to be fourth overall, just ahead of Alonso, Germany's Michael Schumacher and Finland's Kimi Raikkonen.
Alonso finished less than a quarter of a second behind Button and said all the signs pointed to another good weekend for Renault after he won the season-opener in Bahrain and team mate Giancarlo Fisichella won the second round in Malaysia.
"We seem to be in good shape," Alonso said. "The Renault feels nice to drive and our pace is good. I think we are in a similar position to the other races this season - aiming for the top position."
There were no major casualties in either session although Swiss test driver Neel Jani had to quit the morning session early when he hit a wall in his Scuderia Toro Rosso after locking up his rear brakes. Reuters