Leclerc leads Piastri in second Australian GP practice

Charles Leclerc bested Oscar Piastri to top spot in a smooth second practice at the Australian Grand Prix.

After a cagey first practice hour punctuated by two red flags, Ferrari and McLaren emerged as the leaders, meeting pre-season expectations. Leclerc broke through as quickest from this tight battle, setting the bar at 1m16.439s.

Piastri led the way for McLaren at his home race, the Australian 0.124s adrift, while teammate Lando Norris, who was quickest in the first session, was a further 0.017s behind.

But it was Yuki Tsunoda for Racing Bulls, not Lewis Hamilton in the second Ferrari, who locked out fourth in the order. The Japanese driver was 0.345s off the pace, and equally impressive was rookie teammate Isack Hadjar, whose fastest lap was only 0.235s slower, putting him sixth in the order.

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Sandwiched between them was the lukewarm Hamilton, who complained he was struggling with understeer from the early minutes of the session, repeating his feedback of the first hour. By the end of FP2 he had closed to within 0.42s of his session-topping teammate, though this was an improvement on his 0.67s deficit from earlier in the day.

Max Verstappen struggled to seventh, his Red Bull Racing machine looking every bit as unwieldy as it had in FP1, spitting him wide at the first turn and snapping with oversteer through Turn 3. The Dutchman ended up 0.624s off the pace, though that was markedly closer than new teammate Liam Lawson, who was 17th and 1.2s slower than Leclerc.

The two cars we running in split specifications in pursuit of a deeper understanding of the RB21, which the team is confident can be honed into its sweet spot with more track time.

Nico Hulkenberg was an impressive eighth for Sauber despite an early high-speed off through the gravel at Turn 6, only 0.098s behind Verstappen. Lance Stroll followed for Aston Martin, while a scrappy George Russell completed the top 10 for Mercedes at 0.843s off the pace.

Williams teammates Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, send and sixth in first practice, dropped to 11th and 12th in FP2 with identical times, both lapping exactly 0.863 off the pace.

Fernando Alonso followed for Aston Martin ahead of Alpine teammates Jack Doohan and Pierre Gasly, the Australian beating the Frenchman by 0.099s.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli had another quiet session, finishing 16th in his Mercedes ahead of Lawson, Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto and Haas driver Esteban Ocon, who was more than 1.5s off the pace.

Haas rookie Oliver Bearman failed to take part in the session after his big crash earlier in the afternoon. The Briton smacked both right-hand corners against the barriers exiting the super-fast Turn 10, necessitating a power unit and gearbox change that proved beyond his team in the break between sessions. It leaves the newcomer severely lacking mileage ahead of qualifying, having crashed a little over 30 minutes into FP1.