MELBOURNE, Australia — Home countryman Oscar Piastri finished the first day of running in Australia at the top of the timesheets, beating the Mercedes duo of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell in another eventful hour.
It was the first two practice sessions for the Formula 1 season-opening Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park.
After FP1 saw some drivers face teething problems, a small group were ready to go at the pit lane exit for the day’s second practice session, including reigning champion Lando Norris, who missed a sizable chunk of the opening session due to precautionary gearbox checks.
In the opening minutes, Mercedes’ Russell clipped the Racing Bulls car of rookie Arvid Lindblad in a pit lane tussle, before Franco Colapinto was seen slowing dramatically on track, forcing Lewis Hamilton into last-minute evasive action. Both clashes were noted by the stewards and will be investigated after the session.
There were more issues to come in the pit lane as Max Verstappen found himself stuck after stalling the RB22, leading to a rescue mission to wheel him back to the garage to reset ahead of any flying laps.
In the second session, Russell immediately blew leader Piastri’s time out of the water to set the quickest time of the day so far, beating Charles Leclerc’s FP1 effort by over two-tenths.
Mercedes continued to impress after their low-key FP1 showing, with Antonelli becoming the first driver to breach the 1m 19s bracket just before the halfway point of the hour. It wasn’t all smooth sailing, however, as Russell locked up and rattled over the gravel at Turn 3 – an error which Hamilton replicated later in the session.
As home hero Piastri reclaimed P1, the expected top four teams occupied the first eight slots in the timings, with the exception of Lindblad who made it clear that his P5-worthy pace in FP1 was not a fluke.
With 10 minutes remaining, Verstappen suffered a late snap of oversteer at high speed at Turn 10, damaging the floor as he took a trip through the gravel. He wasn’t the only one with a late problem as both Stroll and Williams’ Carlos Sainz returned to the pits after limited running due to unknown issues.
Piastri held on to top spot with a time of 1 minute and 19.729 seconds, maintaining his two-tenths buffer over the lead Mercedes of Antonelli.
Russell was close behind in third place, with Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari just 0.001 seconds adrift of his former teammate.
Leclerc followed as the fifth fastest ahead of Verstappen.
Norris was seventh, ahead of Lindblad, Isack Hadjar and Haas F-1’s Esteban Ocon.
Nico Hulkenberg led the new Audi team in 11th, while Valtteri Bottas was the best of the two Cadillac drivers in 19th.
