The second free practice session for the Australian Grand Prix saw 19 cars take to the track while Oliver Bearman remained in the Haas garage as his team continued repairs from his earlier crash, including an engine and gearbox change.

As the pit lane opened, Liam Lawson went wheel-to-wheel with the McLarens, with Lando Norris even putting his wheels on the grass to get ahead. The Mercedes drivers opted for hard tyres while the rest of the field started on mediums.

Meanwhile, Nico Hulkenberg had an unusual issue, immediately returning to the pits after leaving as a fire extinguisher safety cover had been left in his cockpit.

George Russell set the early pace with a 1:17.565, just ahead of Norris and Charles Leclerc, but it wasn’t long before Carlos Sainz improved to 1:17.302.

The session quickly became lively, with Norris struggling with a twitchy rear end, Hulkenberg ploughing through the Turn 6 gravel, and Pierre Gasly complaining, “I can’t brake” after running off at Turn 3 and multiple lock-ups. Leclerc, frustrated at being stuck behind Lawson, soon put that behind him and became the first driver to dip into the 1:16s with a 1:16.794. His Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton moved up to second, four-tenths behind.

As the field switched to soft tyres, Yuki Tsunoda briefly went quickest with a 1:16.784, before Lance Stroll moved up to fourth while Kimi Antonelli had two big moments, leaving him down in 12th.

Verstappen abandoned his push lap after a mistake at Turn 3, Norris jumped to the top with a 1:16.580, and Hamilton moved into fourth. Verstappen, struggling with understeer, could only manage tenth.

Soon after, Leclerc reclaimed P1 with a 1:16.439, just 0.124s ahead of home favourite Oscar Piastri, while Norris finished third, a further 0.017s back. Meanwhile, Jack Doohan, after bottoming out on the Turn 10 kerbs, asked his Alpine engineers to check for damage and George Russell, with very worn tyres, ended up off the track in the escape zone at the penultimate corner.

With all but Bearman having completed their soft-tyre qualifying simulations, the field shifted focus to long-run pace for the final 20 minutes. Verstappen briefly returned to the pits for a setup adjustment before rejoining the action. Despite Haas’ best efforts, Bearman never made it out on track, rounding off a frustrating day for the British rookie.

Leclerc ended the session on top, followed by Piastri and Norris, while Tsunoda impressed in fourth. Hamilton was fifth, just ahead of fellow rookie Isack Hadjar, while Verstappen could only manage seventh. Hulkenberg finished eight, with Stroll behind, and Russell completing the top ten. With the first day of running complete, Ferrari looks strong, McLaren is firmly in the mix, and Verstappen has work to do ahead of qualifying.