Mini leads F2 practice

Gabriele Minì started off the opening weekend of the FIA Formula 2 season in Melbourne on a strong footing ending the practice session at Albert Park quickest of all, while America's Colton Herta had a rough start to his rookie campaign, triggering a red flag with a spin into the wall.

MP Motorsport driver Mini set a 1m29.137s to take top spot ahead of Noel Leon and Rafael Camara in second and third places for Campos Racing and Invicta Racing respectively.

Sebastian Montoya led the way in the early stages for PREMA Racing on a 1m33.093s, but that time was then bettered by Joshua Duerksen. The Invicta driver delivered a 1m31.939s to lead the field with 10 minutes gone.

Dino Beganovic was able to post an improvement soon after, going top on a 1m31.505s despite catching traffic in the final sector. Duerksen responded on his subsequent attempt to restore his advantage at the top and became the first driver to dip into the 1m30s.

Minì secured top spot before Nikola Tsolov then set the quickest effort for Campos. The Bulgarian’s 1m30.178s came just before the red flags were waving after a spin into the wall for Herta on the exit of Turn 10. Once the Hitech driver's car was recovered, the session resumed with 20 minutes remaining.

Minì returned to the top of the times on his following lap, going narrowly ahead by just 0.017s before Leon usurped him by 0.018s. Tsolov then went to the top on a 1m29.668s, though Minì had been ahead before he lost his lap for exceeding track limits at Turn 6.

Into the final 10 minutes and Leon pipped his teammate by a tenth to go quickest until Minì secured top spot once again, this time on a 1m29.137s. A second red flag was thrown after a spin into the gravel for Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak at Turn 12. With the ART Grand Prix car cleared away, running resumed with three minutes to go, enough time for the majority to get back around for one final flying lap.

Though there were several improvements, nobody could take P1 away from Minì.

Leon and Camara followed with Tsolov fourth and Beganovic in fifth. Rodin Motorsport teammates Alexander Dunne and Martinius Stenshorne were sixth and seventh as Ritomo Miyata, Duerksen and Kush Maini rounded out the top 10.

Qualifying is scheduled to get underway at 2:55pm local time (10:55pm ET).