A “very special” lap from Charles Leclerc boosted Ferrari’s hopes of a boilover at Albert Park, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen nearly four-tenths adrift after Friday’s Australian Grand Prix practice.
Verstappen endured a rare, tough day in his Red Bull, damaging his floor during the day’s first session before being outgunned by Leclerc in the second.
Sky Sports’ Karun Chandhok described the 1:17.277 from Leclerc as “very special” — the Monegasque was 0.381 seconds quicker than Verstappen, and 0.430 seconds quicker than teammate Carlos Sainz.
“We’re not used to seeing such a big gap to Sainz,” Chandhok said. “That’s a big chunk of speed even in a free practice session.”
The two Aston Martins were also a surprise packet with drivers Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso fifth and sixth, followed by Mercedes’ George Russell.
Australia’s Oscar Piastri was seventh, two spots ahead of teammate Lando Norris, while Daniel Ricciardo was 12th, two behind Yuki Tsunoda.
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Verstappen’s second session was impacted by repairs to his car, although he told reporters after that he still was able to complete his practice program despite missing the first 20 minutes.
He wasn’t panicking about Ferrari’s pace, or his day, which he simply described as a “bit messy”.
Speaking about the next steps at Red Bull, he added: “Nothing crazy, nothing worrying, we just need to fine-tune the car.”
Elsewhere, Lewis Hamilton was left languishing in 18th after a change to his car that Mercedes boss Toto Wolff said “massively backfired”.
The day, however, was dominated by the shock of the potentially dire situation unfolding at Williams following a heavy crash in FP1 by Alex Albon.
Did he just drive him into the wall?! | 00:22
Albon lost control of his car on the exit of Turn 6 and put it into the wall to bring out a red flag. He rode the rumble strip on the exit, which saw him bottom out and lose traction as he attempted to put the power back down.
“Is he OK? Looks pretty large,” Norris noted on team radio as he passed the wreckage.
The crash kept Albon out of the day’s second session — but that was only the beginning of the team’s worries.
By the time FP2 started, rumours had spread that Williams didn’t have a spare chassis to repair Albon’s car with.
That was later confirmed by Williams to Sky Sports, putting Albon’s — or even teammate Logan Sargent’s — entire weekend in danger.
Earlier, Sky Sports’ Ted Kravitz said he “can’t believe it” that Williams wouldn’t have a spare chassis in Melbourne.
“I know Williams had an issue getting two cars ready for the start of the season but that was a month ago. If he’s damaged the tub and there’s not a spare, then he’s not going to take part in the weekend,” he said.
“And that’d be the biggest shock of the days here so far … I’ll look into it but I can’t believe they don’t have a spare tub here.”
The news was later confirmed by Kravitz on the Sky Sports broadcast. It opens up the possibility of Williams only being able to run one car for the rest of the weekend.
In that event, Martin Brundle said it’s “an absolute no-brainer” that Albon should be the driver to fill the one spot over Sargent.
Earlier, it was a tight first session of the day with McLaren’s Norris the fastest, 0.018 seconds ahead of Verstappen and 0.033 seconds ahead of Russell.
Piastri was 10th-fastest, and Ricciardo 11th, while his RB teammate Tsunoda posted the fifth-quickest time of the session.
Less than one-tenth of a second separated the entire top six, while the difference from P1 to P8 was a marginal 0.122 seconds.
Practice Two Top 10
1. Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, 1:17.277
2. Max Verstappen, Red Bull, +0.381
3. Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, +0.430
4. Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, +0.545
5. Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, +0.635
6. George Russell, Mercedes, +0.674
7. Oscar Piastri, McLaren, +0.800
8. Sergio Perez, Red Bull, +0.813
9. Lando Norris, McLaren, +0.878
10. Yuki Tsunoda, RB, +0.911
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