F1 Australian GP: Oscar Piastri leads FP2 as Aston…

McLaren Formula 1 driver Oscar Piastri topped Free Practice 2 at the Australian Grand Prix, leading both Mercedes cars.

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.

George Russell, Mercedes (Photo by: Steven Tee / LAT Images via Getty Images)

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.

New Red Bull driver Isack Hadjar was six tenths slower than his team-mate; the pair was separated by reigning world champion Lando Norris and 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; 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

FP2

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Laps	Time	Interval	Tyres	km/h
1	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	26	1'19.729		S	238.317
2	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12	Mercedes	Mercedes	31	+0.214 1'19.943	0.214	S	237.679
3	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	28	+0.320 1'20.049	0.106	S	237.364
4	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44	Ferrari	Ferrari	32	+0.321 1'20.050	0.001	S	237.361
5	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	30	+0.562 1'20.291	0.241	S	236.649
6	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	3	Red Bull	Red Bull	13	+0.637 1'20.366	0.075	S	236.428
7	L. Norris McLaren	1	McLaren	Mercedes	29	+1.065 1'20.794	0.428	S	235.175
8	A. Lindblad Racing Bulls	41	RB	Red Bull	30	+1.193 1'20.922	0.128	S	234.803
9	I. Hadjar Red Bull Racing	6	Red Bull	Red Bull	28	+1.212 1'20.941	0.019	S	234.748
10	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31	Haas	Ferrari	29	+1.450 1'21.179	0.238	S	234.060
11	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87	Haas	Ferrari	31	+1.597 1'21.326	0.147	S	233.637
12	N. Hulkenberg Audi	27	Audi	Audi	34	+1.622 1'21.351	0.025	S	233.565
13	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30	RB	Red Bull	29	+1.629 1'21.358	0.007	S	233.545
14	G. Bortoleto Audi	5	Audi	Audi	28	+1.939 1'21.668	0.310	S	232.659
15	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	32	+2.118 1'21.847	0.179	S	232.150
16	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Mercedes	16	+2.438 1'22.167	0.320	S	231.246
17	C. Sainz Williams	55	Williams	Mercedes	10	+2.524 1'22.253	0.086	M	231.004
18	F. Colapinto Alpine	43	Alpine	Mercedes	27	+2.890 1'22.619	0.366	S	229.980
19	V. Bottas Cadillac-Ferrari	77	Cadillac	Ferrari	28	+3.931 1'23.660	1.041	S	227.119
20	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Honda	18	+4.933 1'24.662	1.002	S	224.431
21	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Honda	13	+6.087 1'25.816	1.154	S	221.413
22	S. Perez Cadillac-Ferrari	11	Cadillac	Ferrari	2
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