Australian GP FP2: Oscar Piastri tops, Mercedes duo chase, Aston Martin a joke
F1 NewsFriday, 06 March 2026 at 07:03
After a tough FP1, Oscar Piastri bounced back and topped the second practice session for the 2026 Australian Grand Prix as Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli and George Russell completed the top three.
While Ferrari and Red Bull Racing were ahead in FP1, McLaren took over in FP2 with Piastri.
The Australian suffered from car issues in FP1 which compromise him, which also applied to reigning Formula 1 Champion Lando Norris who lost a huge chunk of FP1 which was not really better in FP2.
McLaren CEO Zak Brown explained the issues he said: "We had a clutch issue with Lando and in the first session, Oscar wasn't dialled in with his power unit, some of the electronics and Lando had some issue in this second session.
"Everyone is figuring out these cars but we will get it done and it looks like it's all starting to come together.
"It's early days. The technology is awesome, so we need to see how things develop."
Piastri delivered a lap time of 1:19.729 still way off the pace of 2025 but was over two tenths clear of Antonelli in second with Russell a tenth further down the road in third.
Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were fourth and fifth respectively in their Ferraris as Max Verstappen was sixth for Red Bull Racing.
The Dutchman suffered from an early issue that stopped him in the pitlane at the start of the session.
Norris was over a second off his teammate's pace in seventh with Arvid Lindblad behind him in eighth as Isack Hadjar was ninth as Esteban Ocon completed the top ten.
The Audis were 12th and 14th with Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto respectively. Not as good as FP1.
Aston Martin had another joke of a session as they spent most of the time in the garage. At least their AMR26 was spotted on track.
Cadillac had a tough session with Sergio Perez spending it in the garage with a sensor issue. He joined towards the end and then broke down. Valtteri Bottas did some running and was 19th almost four seconds off the pace.
Buildup towards FP2
Ferrari led the way in the first practice session for the 2026 Australian Grand Prix with Red Bull chasing while McLaren suffered from gearbox issues.
Preseason favorites Mercedes are either not that, or a simply holding on to their sandbag and waiting for qualifying to show their true pace.
Aston Martin's disaster continued as neither drive took part in FP1 - Stroll managed three out laps while Alonso never got running.
Audi were decent on debut, in the top ten while Cadillac were slowest of all, only beating the AWOL Astons.
It was clear from early running how different the cars need to be handled around Albert Park as teams chase the optimal deployment as drivers are tasked with the challenging management of their batteries.
FP2 Session Highlights
The conditions remained clear as FP2 started at Albert Park with track temperatures recording 32 degrees Celsius while air temperature was 23 degrees.
Hulkenberg led the way out of the pits in his Audi as Norris soon followed, the latter keen to make up time after losing more than half of FP1 due to the gearbox issues.
Alonso, once again, remained in the garage with his AMR26 on the stands.
Russell, on the other hand, hit the Racing Bulls of Lindblad as they both attempted to leave their pits.
CONTACT in the pit lane between Russell and Lindblad! 😳
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 6, 2026
Mercedes push Russell back out of the fast lane and change his front wing! 👀#F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/zyQZxduWdO
Although Lindblad had the priority, Russell said: "This guy's just hit my front wing."
That meant the W17 with the #63 on it required a front wing change on the spot.
There was a close moment between Colapinto and Hamilton as the former had an issue with is his Alpine and slowed down as the latter came flying and almost crashed into him.
Stationary Max 😳
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 6, 2026
Verstappen's Red Bull comes to a halt at the end of the pit lane before being pushed back to the garage by his team #F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/MClpmbYNR1
Verstappen had an issue at the exit of the pitlane and his mechanics had to walk up to the car and push it back to the garage.
The RB22 was soon on the stands but the four-time F1 champion still managed to rejoin the session.
15 minutes into the session, Alonso finally made his way out on track with Softs bolted to his AMR26.
Straight onto the soft tyres! 🛞
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 6, 2026
Fernando Alonso heads out on track in the Aston Martin 👇#F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/UcDpIY51DH
Cadillac, on the other hand, that of Perez in particular was still in the garage, on the stands as the mechanics were looking to fix a sensor issue.
Antonelli had a moment at Turn 10 where he ran wide and rode the W17 hard on the kerbs scraping the underside.
With 20 minutes remaining, Hamilton ran wide at Turn 4 and drove through the gravel. Russell did the same minutes earlier at Turn 3.
Through the gravel goes George Russell 💨
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 6, 2026
The Mercedes driver locked up on the bumps into Turn 3 and heads for the run-off 🫣#F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/xfd2z1W2do
Bottas then has a snap of oversteer in the penultimate corner but managed to hold his Cadillac and go on.
With ten minutes remaining, it was Verstappen's turn to go off and he did so at high speed and spectacular fashion after a bit of understeer in Turn 10.
He RB22 clearly sustained damage as carbon fiber pieces seemed to fly off the car.
Leclerc then messed up Turn 1 and went straight into the run-off but nothing as dramatic as Verstappen.
The gravel bites in Albert Park 😳#F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/md6VbTzKFX
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 6, 2026
With less than ten minutes remaining, Cadillac sent Perez out on track but soon told him to stop the car.
That brought out the Virtual Safety Car as the stricken Cadillac was cleared.
With the VSC removed, Leclerc locked up heavily and ended up in the gravel at Turn 3.
The session was concluded with practice starts.
Australian GP FP2 Classification
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