Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was the pace-setter in Friday’s second practice at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne as Formula One 2025’s track action got underway while seven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton made his race weekend debut for the Prancing Horse. Leclerc set a fastest time of 01:16.439s ending the day just ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
Leclerc commented following the action saying:
The feeling in the car was good and we had a solid first day on track. There is still some margin for improvement in terms of the balance, which is the same for everyone across the paddock, given that these cars are still pretty new to all of us and we have to push to understand their limits.
It’s too early to come to any conclusions. We will only get a first idea of the respective pace of all the teams in qualifying. All in all, it was a good day and we look forward to tomorrow, when we want to target pole position.
Speaking following the action, Oscar Piastri said:
“It was a productive first day back for us, and it was pretty encouraging. We’ve still got some things to work on, but the pace was there. We’ve tried a few different things and gathered some good information, the car feels different to last year but that’s pretty normal. I am excited to see what we can do tomorrow – it’s been a pretty positive first day.”
Lando Norris was third fastest for McLaren and speaking following the action he said:
“A decent first day back in the car. Good feelings, all in all. We’re struggling a bit with the balance, so we need to make a few changes to get it into a better place, but a good start to the weekend for us as a team. A good baseline, but a bit to improve on.”
Yuki Tsunoda was fourth fastest for Racing Bull’s Visa F1 Team while Lewis Hamilton was fifth fastest in the second Ferrari and speaking following the action, the seven-time Formula One world champion said:
It’s great to finally get going and start my first race weekend with Scuderia Ferrari HP. It’s been a learning day as I continue to understand and get to grips with the new car. Everything is so completely different from what I’ve been used to for so long, but that’s the challenge, and I’m embracing it.
We were not completely satisfied with FP1, but we made some good progress in FP2 and got some solid longer runs in, which was important. There’s still balance work to do overnight, and we’re missing a bit of pace, but that’s expected. It’s about building step by step, maximising what we have, and continuing to push forward. Looking forward to working hard and seeing what improvements we can make tomorrow.
Rookie Isack Hadjarhad a great session as he ended the day in sixth place and speaking following the action he said:
“It’s just my first Friday in Formula One, but it looked like a good day, as I felt comfortable in the car straight after the first lap in FP1. In fact, this morning we went straight into the pace, and throughout the day, the progress went faster, as I felt confident in both long and short runs. I don’t know how the other teams will react ahead of tomorrow, but we’ll look at the data tonight to try to deliver a good result in Qualifying.”
Defending world champion Max Verstappen was seventh fastest and speaking following the action he said:
“Today the grip wasn’t great and we were struggling on all four tyres, particularly in sector one and in the final sector. It feels like we are not up there at the moment but we will work to find more pace. There are no major balance issues, so I think this makes things a bit harder to fix. But this isn’t anything that we didn’t expect when we arrived here. Positively, I think we were surprised with the pace that the car showed. Historically, we have not been that good here in Melbourne since the new tarmac update so will see how we go over the weekend. However, we will continue to work to find a bit more pace ahead of qualifying.”
Nico Hulkenberg was eighth for the Sauber Stake F1 Team Kick just ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll while George Russell rounded out the top ten just ahead of Williams Carlos Sainz who ended the opening practice session in second place. Speaking following the action on Friday, Sainz said:
Definitely a positive Friday for us, with FP1 quite strong. FP2, we didn’t manage to find performance on the Soft tyre, so we need to look into this ahead of Qualifying tomorrow. If we manage to unlock some performance on the Softs, then I think we can be competitive. The field is extremely tight, with various teams doing some very fast laps, so I think tomorrow it will be all about executing a clean Qualifying and seeing where that takes us.
Alex Albon was 12th in the second Williams, just ahead of Fernando Alonso, while the Alpine F1 Team’s Jack Doohan and Pierre Gasly were 14th and 15th, respectively. Mercedes’ new driver, Kimi Antonelli was 16th while Liam Lawson was 17th just ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto while the Haas F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman rounded out the order.