Leclerc fastest in second practice

Second part of free practice

Cloudy. Dry. Air +20C, rail +28C

For the second practice, the sky was overcast with clouds and raindrops appeared. Pirelli had warned that the fresh, slippery pavement of the Albert Park circuit could be very slippery in such weather, but the rain quickly stopped before it got wet.

The riders worked out the traditional program of finding settings and evaluating tire performance on the trail, unusual as the tire manufacturers brought compositions “in one” this weekend – C2 and C3 for the race and C5 for qualifying – and the difference between them became very noticeable. At the same time, the C3 tires best suited for Friday’s race were heavily granulated.

Aston Martin worked the entire session with Sebastian Vettel’s car, who ended morning practice early due to power plant problems. The German missed the first two Grands Prix due to Covid-19, only worked one session on Friday and did not leave the second at all.

Again, there were some minor mistakes – Bottas in the first corner, Russell in the second, Verstappen in 10th, Schumacher in 11th, Hamilton in 12th, all with no impact on the cars.

On the 48th minute, the session was briefly interrupted by red flags due to debris on the track – in Turn 12 there was a fragment of the front wing of Lance Stroll’s car, which broke during the curb attack.

Charles Leclerc took the lead with a lap time of 1:18.978.

Results of the second session

First part of free practice

Sunny. Dry. Air +21C, rail +38C

The first session of free races at the revamped Melbourne circuit was held in clear sunny weather and the grandstands nearly full. Australia has not raced in Formula 1 for three years, causing fans to miss the well-known autumn spectacle, which took place a few weeks later than usual this year.

All in all, the stage was the third in the course of the season, and for Sebastian Vettel it was just getting started – he missed the first two stages due to Covid-19. Kevin Magnussen complained the day before that he was poisoned, but took part in the training.

Carlos Sainz didn’t leave the pit right away – the aerodynamic sensor on the front wing didn’t work on the Ferrari F1-75, but the Scuderia engineers quickly found out.

About 20 minutes later, red flags appeared – Sergio Perez’s Red Bull Racing car lost an aerodynamic body kit.

At the start of the weekend, the sidewalk in Albert Park was dusty and slippery, not without flaws. Midway through the session Magnussen flew out in the third corner. Then Fernando Alonso turned and in the 45th minute red flags popped up again – due to power plant problems, Vettel stopped the car in a straight line.

The car was smoking, Sebastian sprayed it with a fire extinguisher. Five minutes later, the riders took off again and immediately after the end of the session, the German returned to the pits on a trackside scooter, greeting the fans with his helmet almost completely removed – and was called to the stewards.

The protocol was led by Carlos Sainz with a lap time of 1:19.806.

Results of the first session