Ricciardo headed former team-mate Lando Norris by 0.032s after the opening hour of running, with Oscar Piastri third best in the second McLaren.
RB and McLaren were among the minority of teams to complete soft tyre running, which leapt them up the order, with Yuki Tsunoda fourth best.
Fernando Alonso was then next best ahead of Max Verstappen and George Russell, none of whom opted for the red-walled rubber.
Nico Hulkenberg got the new F1 season underway with the Haas driver first on track as the session began, much of the field following suit.
Conditions were largely similar to those seen during pre-season testing; ambient temperatures of 19.5 and a track of 35.6 degrees. Even the wind was largely similar to that seen on the second day of running, blowing across the black straight from driver’s left to right.
Zhou Guanyu was sent out with a large aero rake fitted to his Sauber, the Chinese driver quickly reported that his brake pedal had issues. That drew him back into the pits.
On track, Charles Leclerc had a snap of oversteer exiting Turn 4, the back end stepping out as he ran wide over the exit kerb.
The medium tyre was the preferred option, with Mercedes seeing Lewis Hamilton and George Russell head the pack.
Mercedes ended testing with a question mark over exactly where it sits in the order. Clearly towards the front of the field, it was unclear whether that was on par with Ferrari or closer to McLaren and Aston Martin in a separate battle for third.
The pace was not especially electric, however. In testing, Carlos Sainz had logged a 1:29.921s on the second day of running, for which conditions were remarkably similar to those seen in Free Practice 1.
Red Bull Racing had initially delayed its entry into the session, though after 10 minutes sat first and second with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez clear of the pack.
That was despite Verstappen complaining everything was “miles off” in his car.
Through the first half of the session, times hardly dropped, with Verstappen’s best of 1:33.535s topping the timesheet.
Oscar Piastri shot to the top of the timesheets after half an hour when he became the first driver onto the soft tyres.
He improved to a 1:33.113s, leaving him 0.4s clear of Verstappen’s previous best, only for Lando Norris in the other McLaren to lap 0.2s faster.
As Norris ended his performance run, a number of others were beginning their own soft tyre runs, most notably RB’s Daniel Ricciardo.
The Australian promptly went fastest, recording a 1:32.869s.
His team-mate, Yuki Tsunoda, could only muster a 1:33.183s, good enough for only fourth behind Ricciardo and the two McLarens.
Not all teams opted for a soft tyre run as McLaren and RB did – Sauber was one of the few to follow suit.
However, Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu were well down the order even after their qualifying simulation runs.
That meant Ricciardo’s time remained at the top of the timesheets, aided by a blustery wind that increased in intensity as the session continued.
The conditions generated a host of mistakes, especially under braking for the first turn, where a number of drivers locked up – Lance Stroll spectacularly so. Even the last corner was catching drivers out.
At the foot of the timesheet was Haas, well off the pace, with Alpine occupying 17th and 18th to seemingly confirm the dismal early season outlook for the Enstone team.
A second hour of practice follows at 18:00 local time (02:00 AEDT).
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