Why Piastri has emerged as early frontrunner; Red Bull’s dire day explained: Talking Pts

Friday practice at the Australian Grand Prix was close. Really close.

Despite being the first round of the season and despite some teams battling clear teething problems with their new cars, by the end of the day nine of the sport’s 10 teams were separated by less than a second. Only Haas found itself beyond the threshold, though it was one car down after Oliver Bearman’s damaging smash in first practice.

It bodes well for a tight qualifying session and an unpredictable race.

But even in this compressed field there were two clear standouts at the top of the order.

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As had been predicted after pre-season testing, Ferrari and McLaren have risen to the top.

But much like pre-season testing, the results after two hours of interrupted practice come with some considerable asterisks.

FERRARI AND MCLAREN RISE TO THE TOP

Lando Norris warned on Thursday that Ferrari was downplaying its pace — and that McLaren’s form was being overegged.

He may have been on the money.

Charles Leclerc was fastest at the end of Friday, pipping Oscar Piastri by 0.124 seconds.

“The feeling with the car was good,” he said. “There’s obviously things we need to improve, as always, and I‘m not very happy with the balance yet, but we’re in a much better place compared to Bahrain testing, and there’s still some performance to find.

“It’s been a solid first day. Now we’ve got to wait and see how it goes tomorrow when we push a bit more.

“I want to be cautious, so let’s wait and see, but it’s right to say that after a day like this, we are looking forward to tomorrow and we want to try and target pole position.”

But it’s not alone, with the data suggesting McLaren has more pace in hand.

Piastri certainly sounded optimistic on Friday night.

“I would say [the day was] pretty encouraging,” he said. “The pace was pretty solid.

“Still a few things to try and iron out and make the car feel a little nicer, but the underlying pace seems strong. Pretty happy with the day’s work.”

Piastri looked confident on track, particularly through the fast 9-10 chicane, after which he was tracking to beat Leclerc’s time.

In fact all the Australian’s deficit came through the last braking zone, the penultimate corner, where he was later on the brakes but also later on the power.

Even Norris appeared to leave time on the table, with most of his 0.141-second deficit to Leclerc stemming from him coming off the throttle early into turn 3.

Interestingly he was notably quicker than Leclerc through all the flat-out sections; the first and last sectors cost him.

He was notably less optimistic than Piastri, lamenting that the car wasn’t as consistent as he’d have liked.

“We’ve got a good baseline, but not happy, not confident with the car in terms of finding the best balance and being consistent enough, especially on low fuel,” he said.

“Too many inconsistencies, too many problems, so a bit of a struggle.”

But Norris has a habit of sounding more pessimistic than the situation warrants — a form of expectation management, perhaps.

It’s clear from Friday that McLaren is at least a match for Ferrari — well, at least a match for one of them. As it stands, Piastri and Norris are well ahead of the other scarlet car.

PIT TALK PODCAST: The 2025 Formula 1 season starts this weekend at Albert Park, where Oscar Piastri will be the best-placed Aussie in years to break our home-race podium curse. Can he get it done?

HAMILTON’S FIRST DAY WASN’T AS GOOD AS IT COULD BE

This wasn’t a great first day for Lewis Hamilton — not a disaster, but not great.

He started it 0.61 seconds and nine places behind Leclerc in the disrupted first practice session.

That gap closed marginally 0.42 seconds and four places by the end of the day.

Throughout the two hours Hamilton complained of being unable tot urn the car — of understeer that slowed him down.

The data certainly bears that out.

Hamilton’s minimum speed through the corners is notably slower than Leclerc around the lap.

He’s slower especially through the confidence-testing turn 6 and is also lacking particularly through the double right-hander in the final sector.

Hamilton’s evaluation of the way was interesting, suggesting that his relative lack of pace was a function of his lack of experience with the Ferrari car and the way it wants to be driven.

“Honestly the car felt so much different to what I’ve ever experienced coming to this track, so it took a little but of bedding in through P1.

“The car doesn’t feel bad or anything, it just requires a different way of driving. I’m adjusting my driving style bit by bit, but I’m enjoying driving.

“P2 was definitely a little better, but I’m just building. We’re slowly building and getting a little bit faster bit by bit.”

But he admitted the process was slower that it would have been at Mercedes.

“I’m still getting used to the set-up changes,” he explained. “I don’t have them on call like I used to have obviously at Mercedes — because I’d been there for so long, I knew exactly all the sett-up changes.

“I’m still working through understanding what tools we can use, and it’s interesting because you can see Charles just knows because he’s been here for such a long time. But I’m slowly piecing the bits of the puzzle together.”

It left him expecting to be battling to contend for pole on Saturday.

“For me I think it’s a little bit early, as I continue to just learn the car,” he said. “But never say never. I’ll still give it everything I’ve got tomorrow.

“I’m not putting too much pressure on it. I’m just going to try and enjoy it. I’ve got some pace to find. I know where I’ve got to find it. it’s just about going out and doing it. I’m just building.”

RED BULL RACING STRUGGLES CONTINUE — THOUGH RACING BULLS LOOKS GREAT

Hamilton might’ve been struggling, but his day was nowhere near as dire as Red Bull Racing’s two sessions in Melbourne.

The team warned that it wouldn’t be competitive this weekend, and from FP1 it never looked like a genuine frontrunning contender.

By the end of the day the team’s deficit was clear. Max Verstappen was seventh and 0.624 seconds off the pace. Newcomer Liam Lawson was 10 places further back and double the distance to Leclerc.

To be fair to the team and especially to Lawson, the two cars were running in alternative specifications as part of ongoing evaluations over the RB21’s balance problems evident from pre-season testing.

But the fact it’s still conducting these sorts of experiments tells you a lot about how confident Red Bull Racing is in its understanding of the new car.

“No massive or major problems, but somehow the grip was not coming alive,” Verstappen said. “Just struggling on all four tyres, really, in sector 1 and the last sector. That means of course that we are not really up there at the moment.“

The telemetry suggests the RB21 was quick in a straight line but shipped time through all the corners, suggesting the car is running with less downforce — though that could be a necessary compromise to preserve a neutral balance; introducing more downforce could instead trigger understeer.

“It’ll be a bit hard to fix, but it’s also nothing that I didn’t expect when I arrived here,” Verstappen said.

“I’m not positively or negatively surprised with the pace that we are showing.

“We just need to find a bit more pace but for now we’re definitely lacking a bit to fight upfront.”

Lawson’s feedback was the same despite running alternative parts.

“We were expecting to have some work to do but probably not this much,” he said. “Not really [any idea why]. I think if we knew that, we’d know how to fix it as well.

“In general just grip when we need to use it on that short run, but in general our long-run pace was slow as well.“

The situation couldn’t have been contrasting with junior team Racing Bulls, with Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar fourth and sixth respectively — both ahead of the Red Bull Racing entries.

“I’m sure other teams will pick up the pace for tomorrow in qualifying,” he said. “But definitely it looks good.

“Happy day in the office, but obviously we have to keep focused and keeping digging the performance. I think it’s going to be anyway very, very tight in the field, so even if we squeeze the last 0.1 seconds or whatever, that’ll be quite big.”

Tsunoda expected Williams and Alpine to be his closest competitors for a spot in Q3.

“Those two teams will be pretty quick. So far we’re leading, so at the same time, we take it as a positive.”

GOOD DAY FOR DOOHAN, BUT (MOST) OTHER NEWBIES STRUGGLE

If Jack Doohan is feeling the pressure of his contractual situation or of his first home grand prix in Formula 1, he isn’t showing it.

The Australian rookie had a solid day at Albert Park, finishing ahead of teammate Pierre Gasly in both sessions, though the 22-year-old said it wasn’t worth reading into the relative performance of the cars.

“We’re constantly trying things across both cars, so who’s faster than who, it’s really not a priority at the moment,” he said. “We’re both testing, trying to maximise our package for tomorrow.

“Pierre’s super comfortable in this car, so we’re not really focusing so much on our lap time; just on really building our balance and making sure that we’re in a good place for tomorrow.

“ The cars ran well both sessions, we were able to maximise our running with the conditions that we got, and we’ll continue discussing what we can do for tomorrow morning.

“A few little tweaks hopefully in FP3 to set ourselves in a good position for quali.“

But regardless of the result, Doohan said he savoured his time in the car in front of his home fans.

“It was great [to debut at home],” he said. “First few laps with my home crowd in a Formula 1 car — it was amazing, some great emotions, but channelling those, going through the joy of those when they happen naturally, but focusing on the job out there.”

Less can be said for the other rookies, most notably Haas newbie Oliver Bearman.

Bearman’s day lasted little more than 30 minutes before he found the fence at the rapid turn 9-10 chicane, spinning backwards into the barriers.

His car needed a new power unit and gearbox and a substantial rebuild — too big to get back out for FP2.

“I think just wanting a bit too much too soon, which is my approach, which isn’t the right one for F1,” he admitted. “In F2 you go straight to quali after the first practice session; in F1 you have two more. There’s no need to be straight on the limit.

“Maybe I overdid it slightly, but it’s totally on me.”

It leaves him lacking crucial mileage on what’s already shaping up as a tough weekend for Haas.

Isack Hadjar was the best of the rookies, finishing sixth, but the others struggled for pace. Andrea Kimi Antonelli was 16th and 0.352 seconds slower than teammate George Russell, while Gabriel Bortoleto tailed teammate Nico Hülkenberg by 0.685 seconds.

WHAT’S THE WEATHER DOING?

Practice got underway on a glorious autumnal Melbourne day. Albert Park was bathed in warm sunshine throughout the afternoon, with the mercury hovering at around 25°C on Friday and with a light, cool breeze.

Conditions were ideal. But they’re unlikely to be again this weekend.

The forecast for the rest of the weekend is borderline unhinged.

The Bureau of Meteorology forecasts a Saturday top in the mid-30s, which will push the circuit’s relatively fresh black tarmac towards 50°C.

It would make tyre management extremely challenging an a full-power qualifying lap, not to mention the cooling demands that would be required of the cars.

On Sunday the temperature is set to drop into he mid-20s. There’s a 95 per cent chance of heavy rain, with up to 20 millimetres expected.

Why will that matter?

The fact no three days are the same this weekend means lessons learnt today won’t necessarily be relevant tomorrow and certainly won’t be relevant on Sunday in the wet.

As just one example, consider that the teams must choose how much cooling to set their cars up with. Do you maximise cooling to ensure you see qualifying through without concern, or do you risk smaller apertures with less cooling for better performance on Sunday?

Because, as per the regulations, set up choices are locked in the moment a car leaves pit lane for qualifying. With very few exceptions, the car you qualify with is the race you must race with.

The good news is that such mixed weather increases the chances of a mixed-up race. Not only will the performance order be different between days because of the conditions, but the wet weather — if it arrives, and especially if it arrives as heavily as forecast — will open the door to some unexpected performers from the midfield.

Remember, for instance, Alpine’s double podium at last year’s soaking-wet São Paulo Grand Prix.

It’ll be a headache for the teams as they decide which compromises they want to make as the weekend heads towards its pointy end, but it could make for blockbuster viewing.