In an undisturbed Free Practice 2 session, Charles Leclerc led the field at the Australian Grand Prix weekend, followed by the two McLarens with Piastri ahead of Norris.
Just a few hours after the season’s first session, cars were back on track for Free Practice 2 around Albert Park, looking to gather all the necessary data ahead of the Australian Grand Prix. FP1 gave fans the first sense of what each team is capable of with Lando Norris leading from Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
Drivers wasted no time getting up to scratch around Albert Park in FP1, with a clean session for all but Oliver Bearman, who had the first significant crash of his career. As FP2 began, Haas were still working on Bearman’s car, keeping the Brit in the garage for the first part of the session.
Green Flag
Lando Norris picked up from FP1, putting in the first competitive time with his McLaren. With a 1:17.671 Norris found himself just 0.400 seconds off of his fastest lap from the earlier session.
In the first session of the season, Lewis Hamilton struggled to get a grip on his new Ferrari, finding himself 0.600 seconds off of his teammate Charles Leclerc. However, for FP2 he seemed more comfortable on his flying lap, just losing time in the final sector, fitting into seventh.
Hamilton’s previous teammate took the fastest lap with a 1:17.565 on hard tyres, but it was short-lived as the Williams of Carlos Sainz once again showed significant speed. With a 1:17.302, Sainz took the top spot on medium tyres.
Melbourne has been home to strong winds and turbulent weather all week leading up to the Grand Prix with drivers struggling consistently with a headwind and tailwind across the track. Something that will no doubt plague qualifying.
Lewis Hamilton managed a strong flying lap, crossing the line with a clear 1:17.409 which put him comfortably in third place.
The gravel traps were moved closer to the track for 2025 – in hopes that track limits would become self policing in Australia. However, it has inadvertently caused multiple incidents for drivers, dipping tyres in the gravel and momentarily losing control.
Leclerc went on his flying lap, with a purple sector 1 as he wound around the track. The Monégasque crossed the line to go fastest, breaking into the 1:16’s with a 1:16.794. Hamilton made it a Ferrari 1-2 when he put in a time just 0.400 seconds behind his teammate.
Soft tyres on
For the first time in FP2 teams put on the red walled soft tyres. Teams looking to see the true potential in the 2025 machinery.
Yuki Tsunoda put in a purple sector one and an overall fastest time on the soft tyres. Only managing to clear the Ferraris by 0.010 seconds. Lance Stroll and George Russell slotted themselves into fourth and fifth with the red tyres.
Verstappen, Norris and Leclerc all had the soft tyres on ready to put them to the test. Verstappen suffered from a tail wind in the first few corners, abandoning the flying lap. Norris had a clean push lap, moving to the top of the time sheets with a 1:16.580.
Piastri also finished a flying lap but found himself four tenths off of the pace of his British teammate. Hamilton completed his first soft tyre run and slotted himself into third with a 1:16.859 but he was bumped down to fourth with Charles Leclerc crossed the line with a blinding 1:16.439 putting himself at the front.
Piastri got himself in front of his teammate for the first time in the session with a purple final sector around Albert Park.
Traffic seemed to be a problem throughout the session. With cars on push laps consistently getting caught up by the slower cars. Though times aren’t important in Free Practice sessions, it leaves fans with question marks over teams’ true performances.
Despite a clean session around Albert Park, Ollie Bearman’s Haas was yet to see the track. With just 20 minutes left in the session, Bearman’s engine was running but the team were still working on the brakes.
Final 15 minutes
Further down the order the Williams settled themselves into 11th and 12th with Sainz ahead of his teammate.
Much like the Williams, the Alpine’s found themselves together in 14th and 15th – a far cry from their impressive Brazillian performance in 2024 but a step above where they found themselves at the season opener last year.
The rookies were together in the final few positions, with Antonelli in 16th, Lawson in 17th and Bortoleto in 18th. With no points in practice and Antonelli and Bortoleto in their first F1 weekends – taking it slow and building up is a necessary step.
Impresively RB were ahead of both Red Bull Racing cars, with Yuki Tsunoda in fourth and Isack Hadjar in sixth – while Verstapped was just behind in seventh.
Teams put the red walled tyres away and swapped them for the yellow walled medium tyres. As the session was nearing the end, the teams looked to gather some longer stint data from the mediums.
While most teams came to the end of their programs for the day, Ollie Bearman was putting his helmet on in the garage with just four minutes to go. Even without a competitive lap on the board Haas wanted to get the car on track and get a feel for the car. Unfortunately, the chequered flag waved and Bearman’s car remained in the garage missing out on a run by mere minutes.
Charles Leclerc ended the session at the top of the time sheets with a 1:16.439, behind him Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.
Full Session Results
- Leclerc
- Piastri
- Norris
- Tsunoda
- Hamilton
- Hadjar
- Verstappen
- Hülkenberg
- Stroll
- Russell
- Sainz
- Albon
- Alonso
- Doohan
- Gasly
- Antonelli
- Lawson
- Bortoleto
- Ocon
- Bearman
Feature Image Credit: Red Bull Content Pool
