Ferrari scored first and third best times of the day.
MELBOURNE, Australia—Building on his podium accomplishment in the Saudi Arabian GP (finishing third), Charles Leclerc set the fastest time in free practice two at Albert Park on Friday at 1:12:277, ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz was in third.
Leclerc dominated the entire session with the top times before the day ended and stayed ahead of every other driver. Verstappen came around late in the session because of damage to his floor, which was done in the earlier free practice session and had to be repaired, which took half of the practice session.
The Dutchman returned and slowly made his way up the timesheets before finishing behind Leclerc. Sainz, on the other hand, had just returned from having his appendix out and missed the last round. He is now driving at Albert Park and does not seem to have any difficulties, proving that his third-place finish showed his return to form.
Aston Martin’s duo Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso achieved a fourth and fifth-place finish, proving that the team will be a contender this weekend. George Russell moved his Mercedes as the sole top-ten representative since teammate Lewis Hamilton could do no better than 18th out of 20 drivers. Hometown hero Oscar Piastri put his McLaren in seventh, with his teammate and morning session leader Lando Norris taking ninth. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez ended up in eighth, while RB’s Yuki Tsunoda finished in tenth.
The biggest disappointment of the day went to American Logan Sargeant in his Williams as his teammate, Alex Albon, crashed his car in the opening practice session and broke his tub. With no replacement, Sargent had to sacrifice his position and cannot participate in the race this weekend, giving Albon, who had better results, the opportunity to continue racing with his teammate’s car.
Practice three will be early on Saturday, while the qualifying follows later that day. The race will be on Sunday, but since the area is a day and a half ahead of most areas, the telecast on ESPN 2 will be on Saturday evening, starting at 12 midnight Eastern time.
