Australian GP: Oscar Piastri set fastest time in FP2 as Russell, Verstappen faced drama

Oscar Piastri delighted his home fans as he set the pace in Friday’s second practice for the Australian Grand Prix, two-tenths up on Kimi Antonelli.

It was a chaotic start to the session with George Russell, Arvid Lindblad and Franco Colapinto all off to visit the stewards, but a good one – at least compared to FP1 – for Aston Martin with both Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll hitting double figures in the lap count.

Piastri leads FP2 in Melbourne as multiple drivers hit trouble

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Friday’s second session began with a bit of drama as Lindblad and George Russell made contact in the pit lane. Lindblad seemed to leave a gap for the Mercedes only to be told by his race engineer to get a move on. Russell’s front wing paid the price. “This guy’s just hit my front wing,” he said.

Meanwhile, out on track there was a scary moment as Franco Colapinto suddenly slowed, his car in neutral, forcing Lewis Hamilton to take quick avoiding action. “That was a car going crazy slow on the pit straight,” said the Ferrari driver.

Both the Russell-Lindblad incident and the Colapinto one will be investigated by the stewards after FP2.

Back in the pit lane, Max Verstappen came to a stop in the Red Bull. The pit lane remained open as the Red Bull mechanics pushed his car back to the garage.

Sergio Perez’s Cadillac was up on jacks, the team reporting: “We have a sensor issue on Checo’s car that we need to rectify. We expect to go out before session end.”

And all within the first 10 minutes of the session.

Hamilton went quickest with a 1:20.903, Russell second and Kimi Antonelli third. Isack Hadjar had a big slide out of Turn 5 but managed to catch the car and avoid the wall.

Fernando Alonso finally made his first on-track appearance of the day 15 minutes into the session, but was back in the pits after two laps in which his Aston Martin picked up pace only to slow again.

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His teammate Lance Stroll was having a better time of things and completed nine laps in the first half of the session, with his 1:25.816 two seconds down on the second slowest time. Only 20 drivers had set times, with Alonso and Perez both in the pits.

Antonelli and Russell made it a Mercedes 1-2 ahead of Charles Leclerc and Hamilton, with Piastri on the hard Pirellis only seven-tenths off the pace. The McLaren driver swapped to the softs and hit the front with a 1:19.729.

Russell, already on his way to the stewards for the earlier pit lane incident, was noted again by the stewards for failing to follow race director’s notes regarding practice starts.

Despite what looked to be earlier issues with his AMR26, Alonso returned to the track for a seven-lap stint that put him 20th on the timesheet, one place ahead of Stroll. The Canadian brought his tally up to 13 before he was told to box as his AMR26 had an issue.

Williams announced that Carlos Sainz’s session was over, the team stating: “We are experiencing an issue with Carlos’ car. The team are investigating the issue and he will not return for the remainder of FP2.”

Verstappen had a huge moment as a late snap of oversteer sent him hurtling over the grass verge and bouncing through the gravel. The Red Bull driver completed another lap before pitting his RB22.

Perez ventured out with eight minutes remaining in the session, but stopped the car just before Turn 12 on his second lap. He was the only driver who didn’t set a time in FP2.

The session ended with Piastri fastest of all with a 1:19.729, putting him two-tenths up on Antonelli with George Russell a further tenth off the pace.

Australian GP FP2 Times

1 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:19.729 – 26 laps
2 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:19.943 – 31 laps
3 George Russell Mercedes 1:20.049 – 28 laps
4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:20.050 – 32 laps
5 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:20.291 – 30 laps
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:20.366 – 13 laps
7 Lando Norris McLaren 1:20.794 – 29 laps
8 Arvid Lindblad Racing Bulls 1:20.922 – 30 laps
9 Isack Hadjar Red Bull 1:20.941 – 28 laps
10 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:21.179 – 29 laps
11 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:21.326 – 31 laps
12 Nico Hulkenberg Audi 1:21.351 – 34 laps
13 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:21.358 – 29 laps
14 Gabriel Bortoleto Audi 1:21.668 – 28 laps
15 Alex Albon Williams 1:21.847 – 32 laps
16 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:22.167 – 16 laps
17 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:22.253 – 10 laps
18 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:22.619 – 27 laps
19 Valtteri Bottas Cadillac 1:23.660 – 28 laps
20 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:24.939 – 18 laps
21 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:25.816 – 13 laps
22 Sergio Perez Cadillac no time – 2 laps

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