F1 Australian GP: Leclerc fastest in FP2 over Verstappen, Sainz

A 1m17.277s from Leclerc, his second hot lap on soft tyres, handed him a handy advantage over the rest of the field and put him clear of then runner-up Carlos Sainz, who was shuffled down to third by Verstappen's later second soft run.

The Dutchman had been late to parlay with the other runners in FP2 owing to a spot of damage to his Red Bull RB20, sustained in a kerb strike during FP1, and thus continued running on the mediums as the others had long since switched to softs.

After collecting the soft tyres, Verstappen proceeded to match Sainz's time to the thousandth, 0.43s short of Leclerc's session best.

The Dutchman's next lap was the last one that changed the order on the timing screens, as the rest of the field switched to longer runs across both the soft and medium tyres, and overturned Sainz by half a tenth on his next effort on the red-walled Pirellis.

Leclerc had topped the times during the early runs on medium tyres, setting a 1m17.936s with a healthy dose of tows along the straights - which made up for being hampered on his first hot lap of the Albert Park circuit early in the session.

This displaced Lando Norris' 1m18.201s time also set on the mediums, the Briton having been top of FP1 earlier on in the afternoon.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren MCL38, leaves the pit lane (Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images)

Fernando Alonso was first to take a set of softs and his first sector suggested that he was in line to move to the top of the pile, but a less stellar middle sector took the wind out of the Spaniard's sails and left him just short of Leclerc's then-headliner.

His Aston Martin team-mate Lance Stroll then set an impressive first sector too, following that up with a personal best in the second, but denied himself a chance to go fastest after fluffing his lines at Turn 13; the Canadian got acquainted with the grass and sapped away at his time.

The Aston Martin pair made up for it, however; Alonso moved Leclerc off the top on his next effort, but Stroll found a time 0.09s quicker than his veteran team-mate to sit atop the order as the session moved towards the halfway mark.

Leclerc reclaimed his place at the zenith of the timing board with a 1m17.423s with purple sectors in the first and third splits, although had not been able to beat his earlier best in the middle portion of the lap. 

The Monegasque addressed that on his next attempt, poking home a 1m17.277s to further extend his advantage over Stroll, before Sainz then produced a 1m17.707s to move into second. Verstappen then split the Ferraris in the final 15 minutes.

Stroll's time over Alonso ensured that the ex-Williams driver ended the session in fourth, while George Russell sat behind the two-time champion in sixth.

Russell had matched team-mate Lewis Hamilton's Turn 1 excursion from FP1 as the Mercedes W15 continued to look somewhat flighty over the course of a lap, but rallied to claim a position in the top six.

Home hero Oscar Piastri was 0.8s shy of Leclerc's time to sit seventh overall, a smidgen clear of Sergio Perez, while Norris and Yuki Tsunoda completed the top half of the order.

Sauber's Zhou Guanyu was 11th, having earlier baulked Verstappen on the exit of Turn 4 owing to a late radio call to move over, while Daniel Ricciardo beat Logan Sargeant to 12th.

Sargeant had sustained a spin after the opening 10 minutes of the session while on a personal best lap, where he took a liberal amount of kerb into Turn 11 and unsettlied the rear as he attempted to wrestle his car over the exit run-off, ultimately with a wheel dipped into the gravel.

His Williams team-mate Alex Albon did not take part in FP2 following his shunt in the opening practice session of the day, where he clipped the Turn 7 kerb and was pitched into a side-on hit into the next barrier. Williams does not have a spare chassis, and is assessing if Albon's car can be repaired for FP3 on Saturday.

Australian GP - FP2 results:

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	26	1'17.277		245.879
2	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	21	+0.381 1'17.658	0.381	244.672
3	C. Sainz Ferrari	55		Ferrari	Ferrari	25	+0.430 1'17.707	0.049	244.518
4	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	29	+0.545 1'17.822	0.115	244.157
5	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	31	+0.635 1'17.912	0.090	243.875
6	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	24	+0.674 1'17.951	0.039	243.753
7	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	29	+0.800 1'18.077	0.126	243.359
8	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11		Red Bull	Red Bull	33	+0.813 1'18.090	0.013	243.319
9	L. Norris McLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes	23	+0.878 1'18.155	0.065	243.116
10	Y. Tsunoda RB	22		RB	Red Bull	27	+0.911 1'18.188	0.033	243.014
11	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24		Sauber	Ferrari	32	+1.144 1'18.421	0.233	242.292
12	D. Ricciardo RB	3		RB	Red Bull	30	+1.257 1'18.534	0.113	241.943
13	L. Sargeant Williams	2		Williams	Mercedes	23	+1.301 1'18.578	0.044	241.808
14	V. Bottas Sauber	77		Sauber	Ferrari	32	+1.308 1'18.585	0.007	241.786
15	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Renault	33	+1.414 1'18.691	0.106	241.460
16	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27		Haas	Ferrari	28	+1.425 1'18.702	0.011	241.427
17	E. Ocon Alpine	31		Alpine	Renault	32	+1.428 1'18.705	0.003	241.417
18	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44		Mercedes	Mercedes	23	+1.557 1'18.834	0.129	241.022
19	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20		Haas	Ferrari	31	+1.998 1'19.275	0.441	239.682
20	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	0
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