FP2 Results – Who knows what we will get in qualifying?

By Mark Gero

Oscar Piastri had trouble last season, losing his chance to win his home grand prix. But Friday afternoon at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, Australia, the home crowd was delighted for their hero as Piastri set the fastest time of the two practices, with a 1:29:729, set just a half an hour before the close of the session.

The Mercedes duo of Kimi Antonelli and George Russell placed second and third, respectively, as the Brackley based car continued its success following good results in previous testing.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc followed next with fourth and fifth, with the four-time world champion Max Verstappen in the Red Bull and the current champion Lando Norris sixth and seventh.

The big surprise of the day came with the only rookie in this series this season, Arvid Lindblad in the Racing Bulls, finishing eighth, while the second Red Bull of Isack Hadjar took ninth. Esteban Ocon continued his improvement from the last tests and placed his Haas in tenth.

But everything was not smooth sailing for everybody, as the drivers were all trying to get used to the new cars for this season. Hamilton for one had to avoid striking the Alpine of Franco Colapinto, who had his car stuck in neutral, while Verstappen came to a stop right in the pitlane. His mechanics came out and pushed his car back into the garage.

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso got his car out on track 15 minutes into the session only to return to his garage after picking up the pace only to slow down again with his Honda engine. His teammate, Lance Stroll, was a little better in his results and only placed two spots above the last two entries.

Those two entries were Alonso and the Cadillac of Sergio Perez, who came out onto the circuit with eight minutes remaining in the session, only to stop the car just before turn 12, after having experienced sensor issues on his car, which kept him most of the session in his garage. Perez was the only driver who did not complete a lap in the afternoon.

Practice three will begin early on Saturday morning, with the qualifying later that afternoon.