Pre-race favourite Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes failed to complete a single lap in the first practice session of the Australian grand prix.

The Briton’s Mercedes crawled around the Albert Park circuit before coming to a halt on turn nine, missing the rest of the session after being winched out.

Hamilton’s problem was apparently an automatic engine shut-off after its oil level reached a threshold point, having to wait until after the session to get the car into the pits for the Mercedes engineers to investigate further.

While his teammate Nico Rosberg showed competitive pace, finishing sixth, the incident is an unwanted headache for the Mercedes team.

Fernando Alonso in his Ferrari charted the fastest time of the session with a 1:31.840 lap, with the McLaren of Jenson Button second with 1:32.357.

The two Williams drivers, Valterri Bottas and Felipe Massa, finished third and fourth respectively.

After a difficult pre-season testing for Renault engines, Australian Red Bull driver Daniel Ricciardo responded by completing 26 laps – more than almost any other.

His Red Bull teammate Sebastian Vettel was relaxed by comparison, not charting a flying lap until the last half-hour of the session and finishing in seventh.

Several drivers, including both Alonso, Kimi Raikkonen and Ricciardo acquainted their cars with the grass as drivers continued their search for rhythm in their new cars.

The Renault-engined cars fared poorly with one Lotus driver, Pastor Maldando, pitting after smoke in his cockpit and the other, Romain Grosjean, failing to take the circuit at all.

Ricciardo was fastest of the cars with the Renault power units, finishing fifth with 1:32.599.

While the Ferrari finished top of the charts, the Mercedes engineers can claim an overall success on reliability.

Outside Hamilton’s incident, each of the seven other drivers with the Mercedes power unit finished in the top 12.