F1 Australian GP: Leclerc leads McLaren duo in FP2

Charles Leclerc led McLaren pair Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in second practice for Formula 1’s Australian Grand Prix, with Ferrari finally showing more of its new car potential.

In the other SF-25, Lewis Hamilton finished fifth behind Racing Bulls driver Yuki Tsunoda, with a 0.4s gap to his session-leading team-mate.

Tsunoda, Norris and Williams driver Carlos Sainz enjoyed brief spells at the top of the times early in the one-hour session. Before Leclerc’s 1m16.794s best effort on the medium tyres, most cars were running established the initial benchmark.

At this stage around the one-third mark, Hamilton had slotted into second, although with a 0.4s gap to Leclerc on the same medium rubber.

As the field then trickled out for the mid-session qualifying simulation efforts, it was Tsunoda who finally toppled Leclerc with a 1m16.784s, as the McLaren drivers took longer to get up to speed with the soft tyres the pack had now switched too.

Just after Max Verstappen had abandoned his first softs run in a wayward Red Bull, Norris moved ahead with a 1m16.580s, as Piastri’s first flier on the red-walled rubber put him third.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren (Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images)

With under 30 minutes remaining, Leclerc put in his first run on the softs and moved back to the top – setting FP2’s best time at 1m16.439s.

Hamilton had posted his softs flier just before but he could not get ahead of Tsunoda, and both were then shuffled down by Piastri’s gain on a second qualifying simulation effort to leap to second and trail Leclerc by 0.124s, with Norris’s best a further 0.017s behind.

Another late gainer was Verstappen, who moved up to sit seventh behind Isack Hadjar in the other RB, who appeared to have an impeding moment with Norris at the start of the mid-session performance runs.

Verstappen had abandoned his first lap after going very deep at Turn 1 and then sliding at Turn 3, as the RB21 continued its recalcitrant start to the campaign.

Nico Hulkenberg emerged from a heavy early trip through the Turn 6 exit gravel to take eighth for Sauber, ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and lead Mercedes driver George Russell.

In the other W16, Andrea Kimi Antonelli ended FP2 ahead of Liam Lawson in the other Red Bull, while FP1 shunter Oliver Bearman missed the entire session after Haas could not complete the repairs in time.

The session concluded with the usual late-FP2 race-data-gathering long runs, which passed without major incidents - although Russell had a trip down the Turn 13 escape road late on.

F1 Australian GP - FP2 results

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	32	1'16.439			248.574
2	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	30	+0.124 1'16.563	0.124		248.172
3	L. Norris McLaren	4	McLaren	Mercedes	30	+0.141 1'16.580	0.017		248.117
4	Y. Tsunoda Racing Bulls	22		Red Bull	29	+0.345 1'16.784	0.204		247.457
5	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44	Ferrari	Ferrari	31	+0.420 1'16.859	0.075		247.216
6	I. Hadjar Racing Bulls	6		Honda	30	+0.580 1'17.019	0.160		246.702
7	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	Red Bull	Red Bull	22	+0.624 1'17.063	0.044		246.561
8	N. Hulkenberg Sauber	27	Sauber	Ferrari	24	+0.722 1'17.161	0.098		246.248
9	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Mercedes	28	+0.840 1'17.279	0.118		245.872
10	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	30	+0.843 1'17.282	0.003		245.863
11	C. Sainz Williams	55	Williams	Mercedes	30	+0.863 1'17.302	0.020		245.799
12	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	28	+0.863 1'17.302	0.000		245.799
13	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Mercedes	27	+0.891 1'17.330	0.028		245.710
14	J. Doohan Alpine	7	Alpine	Renault	30	+0.955 1'17.394	0.064		245.507
15	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Renault	30	+1.054 1'17.493	0.099		245.193
16	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12	Mercedes	Mercedes	31	+1.195 1'17.634	0.141		244.748
17	L. Lawson Red Bull Racing	30	Red Bull	Honda	30	+1.201 1'17.640	0.006		244.729
18	G. Bortoleto Sauber	5	Sauber	Ferrari	29	+1.408 1'17.847	0.207		244.078
19	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31	Haas	Ferrari	31	+1.595 1'18.034	0.187		243.493
20	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87	Haas	Ferrari	0
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