McLaren’s Oscar Piastri topped second practice at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, leading both Mercedes drivers, as Aston Martin’s struggles continued.
Lewis Hamilton set the pace in the first part of the session, with the frontrunners on hard tyres. The Ferrari driver lapped in 1m20.637s, leading Piastri in 1m20.638s, Kimi Antonelli in 1m20.801s, George Russell in 1m20.984s and Charles Leclerc in 1m21.478s.
Mercedes then switched to soft rubber, with Russell setting a 1m20.049s, subsequently outpaced by Antonelli in 1m19.943s. Piastri then lapped in 1m19.729s, with the fastest first sector only, which ended up being the day’s benchmark.
The Ferraris took fourth and fifth, with Hamilton 0.001s off Russell and Leclerc a further 0.241s adrift.
Russell experienced a turbulent session as he collided with Arvid Lindblad in the pitlane, is being investigated for a practice start infringement, and had a trip through the gravel at Turn 3 – but so did the Ferrari drivers.
Red Bull was 0.637s off the pace with Max Verstappen setting a 1m20.366s before going wide at the exit of Turn 10; debris flew away from his RB22 as he ran over the gravel trap. This was a tricky session for the four-time title winner, who spent the first 25 minutes out of action after stopping at the end of the pitlane due to an apparent technical issue.
George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images
New Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar was six tenths slower than his team-mate; the pair separated by reigning world champion Lando Norris and Arvid Lindblad, who led the midfield in 1m20.922s with Racing Bulls.
Haas was the sixth-fastest team as Esteban Ocon lapped in 1m21.179s; Nico Hulkenberg gave Audi a 1m21.351s.
Williams and Alpine were significantly slower, then it was the usual suspects at the bottom of the standings.
Cadillac was nearly four seconds off the pace with Valtteri Bottas, while Sergio Perez completed just two laps as a sensor issue kept him in the garage for most of the session. When the Mexican veteran finally went out, he had to stop on track with a suspected hydraulics issue.
Aston Martin’s now well-documented battery issues meant Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll never covered more than eight laps consecutively; the Spaniard was faster, some five seconds off the pace.
F1 Australian GP – FP2 results
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– The Autosport.com Team
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