Charles Leclerc beat the McLaren drivers to P1 in Friday’s second practice for the Australian Grand Prix in an intriguing session that saw Racing Bulls the faster of the Red Bull outfits.

While Leclerc once again won the Ferrari battle and Oscar Piastri edged ahead of Lando Norris, it was Yuki Tsunoda who was the fastest of the Red Bull quartet, with Isack Hadjar also ahead of Max Verstappen.

Charles Leclerc hits the front for Ferrari in FP2

As the Formula 1 drivers left the pit lane for the start of FP2, one driver was stuck in the pits and potentially set to remain there for a good half an hour. That was Oliver Bearman who crashed in the earlier session, forcing his mechanics to not only repair the VF-25’s bodywork but also change the engine and gearbox.

Liam Lawson went wheel-to-wheel with the McLaren drivers to be the first driver out on track, Lando Norris putting wheels on the grass to edge ahead as they drove down the pit lane.

The Mercedes drivers left the pits on the hard Pirellis while everyone else ran the mediums, and Nico Hulkenberg left the pits with the fire extinguisher safety cover in the cockpit of his Sauber.

George Russell set the early pace with a 1:17.565, a tenth up on Lando Norris with Charles Leclerc third. As the racing continued, who said it was a practice session?, Carlos Sainz overtook Oscar Piastri on the track and then put in a 1:17.302 to sit P1.

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As the drivers pushed to find the limits in the cars and the track, Norris had a huge rear-end twitch, Hulkenberg went flying through the Turn 6 gravel, Gasly visited the Turn 3 gravel and reported “I can’t brake” and Leclerc was annoyed as he was stuck behind Lawson.

Leclerc shrugged that off to go quickest with a 1:16.794, the first driver to break into the 1:16s on Friday. Lewis Hamilton moved up to second, four-tenths down on his team-mate.

Swapping to the soft tyres mid-session, Yuki Tsunoda went quickest with a 1:16.784, Lance Stroll went fourth and Kimi Antonelli had two big moments that left him down in 12th place. And then out come the heavy-hitters.

Max Verstappen aborted his lap after a moment at Turn 3, Norris hit the front with a 1:16.580 ahead of Tsunoda with Hamilton up to fourth. Verstappen was down in 10th place after his soft tyre lap.

Leclerc was the next of the front runners to swap to the red-walled tyres and went quickest on a 1:16.439. Piastri slotted into second, a tenth down.

Meanwhile, Jack Doohan asked Alpine to “check the floor” after bottoming out on the Turn 10 kerbs.

With all 19 drivers, Bearman still stuck in the pits, having completed a soft tyre qualifying simulations except Sainz, they moved onto long runs for the final 20 minutes. Verstappen, however, was in the pits for a set-up change before he too joined the action.

Tsunoda complained about tyre wear on his medium tyres, Hamilton was informed of his target times to Leclerc, Sainz stayed on the medium tyres for the entire session and Leclerc finished FP2 up in P1.

The Ferrari driver’s best time of 1:16.439 put him 0.124s up on Piastri with Norris a further 0.017s.

Bearman did not get in a run despite Haas’ best efforts to get his car repaired.

FP2 Times from the Australian GP

1 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:16.439
2 Oscar Piastri McLaren +0.124
3 Lando Norris McLaren +0.141
4 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls +0.345
5 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari +0.420
6 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +0.580
7 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.624
8 Nico Hulkenberg Kick Sauber +0.722
9 Lance Stroll Aston Martin +0.840
10 George Russell Mercedes +0.843
11 Carlos Sainz Williams +0.863 – mediums
12 Alexander Albon Williams +0.863
13 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +0.891
14 Jack Doohan Alpine +0.955
15 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1.054
16 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +1.195
17 Liam Lawson Red Bull Racing +1.201
18 Gabriel Bortoleto Kick Sauber +1.408
19 Esteban Ocon Haas F1 Team +1.595
20 Oliver Bearman Haas F1 Team

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