Piastri Tops Melbourne Practice as Mercedes, Ferrari Impress

Oscar Piastri topped Friday's practice running at the Australian Grand Prix, setting the fastest time of Practice Two at his home circuit as Mercedes and Ferrari also showed strong form in Melbourne.

Piastri went quickest in Practice Two with a 1:19.729, 0.214s quicker than Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli. George Russell was third, a further 0.106s back, while Lewis Hamilton put the second Ferrari fourth, 0.321s off the McLaren. Charles Leclerc, who had led a dominant Practice One, slipped to fifth in the afternoon session on 1:20.291, suggesting Ferrari were unable to fully exploit their late-afternoon setup change.

The afternoon order represented a turnaround from Practice One, when Leclerc topped the timesheets with a 1:20.267 and Hamilton completed a Ferrari one-two. Red Bull looked slower in the morning behind the Ferraris but shuffled up and down through the day.

Max Verstappen was sixth in Practice Two, 0.637s off Piastri, after a technical issue kept him in the garage for much of the session. He later had a large off at the high-speed Turn 10, running through gravel and avoiding the barrier but apparently damaging the Red Bull's floor. Verstappen had been running well in Practice One before his afternoon trouble.

Reigning champion Lando Norris finished seventh for McLaren in Practice Two despite having a clutch problem in Practice One that limited him to just seven laps. Norris enjoyed largely uninterrupted running in the afternoon but managed only one clean push lap on fresh soft tyres, leaving him just over a second behind team-mate Piastri. Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad impressed with eighth in the afternoon after a strong showing in the opening session, while Isack Hadjar rounded out the top nine in Practice Two.

Aston Martin again struggled with their Honda power unit. Fernando Alonso failed to set a time in Practice One and was well down the order in Practice Two, nearly five seconds off the pace. Lance Stroll completed only three laps in the first session and remained towards the back in the afternoon. Sergio Perez was unable to set a time in Practice Two after stopping on track in the closing stages for Cadillac, while team-mate Valtteri Bottas completed a longer run but finished almost four seconds adrift.

After the major regulation changes that arrived for 2026 — new chassis and power units — the sport's traditional 'big four' of McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull again looked quickest during testing and on Friday, though the precise pecking order is still unclear. Mercedes, widely tipped to be strong this year, admitted after Practice One that they "weren't in such a good place," but the team showed better long-run pace in Practice Two as Antonelli and Russell put in convincing extended runs.

McLaren had a mixed day with reliability issues in the morning for both drivers, but Piastri's late flyer in the second session confirmed McLaren could still be in contention for Saturday's pole. Ferrari started fastest in the morning but Leclerc's inability to improve after the setup change may have stalled their momentum. Verstappen's technical and off-track issues left Red Bull playing catch-up heading into Qualifying.

Qualifying is scheduled for 05:00 local time on Saturday and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.

22) Sergio Perez (Cadillac) no time set

Sky Sports F1 will continue live coverage across the weekend, including Practice Three, Qualifying and the Australian Grand Prix race.