Leclerc showed the best time in the second training session

Second part of the free training

Clearly. Dry. Air +20C, highway +37…36C

At the beginning of the second practice, the braking zones were covered with used rubber, the grip improved, the cars began to slip less, but the increased wind hindered.

The teams focused on working with the settings and tires, evaluating the performance of the Medium and Soft tires on long and short sets of laps. As with the first training, the Hard composition was not used.

Albon’s car at Williams could not be repaired after the morning accident and he missed the second training session. This is not Albon’s first accident; the team was always low on spare parts at the start of the season; engineers and mechanics looked for a solution that would allow Alex to continue the weekend.

His teammate Sargent almost crashed the car after spinning in Turn 11, but managed to avoid contact with the wall. Russell, Leclerc and Stroll were thrown onto the grass.

Charles Leclerc led the protocol and drove the best lap in 1:17.277. Ten riders fit in one second.

Results of the second session

First part of the free training

Clearly. Dry. Air +18…19С, highway +32…367С

The first training session in Melbourne started at 4:30 am Moscow time and became the fate of journalists and enthusiasts. The moon shone brightly, rare luminous windows and the counter in the live broadcast showed that we were not alone.

In Australia everything was the other way around: the sun shone brightly, it was not hot, but the asphalt quickly warmed up under a cloudless sky. At the beginning of autumn, the trees in Albert Park were not yet yellow; The stands were already filled on Friday.

For the first time since the start of the season, after a two-week break between stages, many teams brought new products and dedicated the first session to testing them.

For the first time, Pirelli brought a “soft” trio of compounds to the podium – C3, C4 and C5 in Hard, Medium and Soft roles. The asphalt in the first session was traditionally dusty and slippery, the riders gradually increased their speed using Medium and Soft tires.

Carlos Sainz is back behind the wheel after undergoing surgery two weeks ago. Whether he will drive on Saturday will be determined later.

There were some incidents. Alonso spun into the safe gravel area at Turn 10 and damaged his underbody, which had to be replaced. Russell went onto the grass at turn nine without any consequences for the car, and Bottas spun there.

In the 40th minute the session was stopped with red flags. Albon crashed his car when he hit the barrier exiting turn seven. The impact was severe, the car lost the right front wheel and froze with a broken suspension. The asphalt was littered with carbon residue that had to be removed. Alex said he was fine, but the dangerous overload sensor tripped and he was sent to the medical center for a check-up.

Ten minutes later the riders could continue working.

In the tenth corner, Verstappen flew over the curb, felt a crash with the bottom and returned to the pits.

Lando Norris led the first practice session in Melbourne and set the best lap on soft tires in 1:18.564.

Results of the first session