The current Formula 1 Champion, Max Verstappen, was only able to secure the second fastest time, falling quite a bit behind Leclerc’s pace. Carlis Sainz managed to secure the third fastest time.
Verstappen had to skip 20 minutes of running in FP2 because the floor of his RB20 needed to be replaced after he damaged it by driving over a kerb during the first practice.
While it is still too early to make a definitive judgement, it appears that Ferrari may have the advantage in qualifying, at least for now. However, Verstappen is expected to be the driver to beat in terms of race pace on Sunday, which sets the stage for an interesting race in Australia.
Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso completed the top five, showing that the Green cars also performed well on the Albert Park circuit.
On the other hand, Mercedes seemed to be struggling, especially Lewis Hamilton. George Russell, on the other hand, managed to secure the sixth fastest time, once again outperforming his teammate.
FP1 was a chaotic session, with drivers losing control of their cars all over the track and many damaging their floors. Alex Albon even crashed into the wall, causing him to miss out on FP2. Not a great start to the Thai driver’s race weekend in Australia.
The concerning news for Williams is that they do not have a spare chassis available in Melbourne. This could be problematic if Albon’s chassis turns out to be damaged.
The top seven drivers were separated by only a tenth of a second in the first practice session, so hopefully, this level of competitiveness continues throughout the weekend. However, it is likely that Verstappen and Red Bull have not yet shown their full potential, so it is expected that they will be at the top.
Ferrari also showed promise with Leclerc, while Sainz was still adjusting to his car with some modifications made to his seat and seat belts to improve his comfort as he is not fully recovered.
With Norris setting the fastest time, it seems that McLaren currently has the upper hand over Mercedes this weekend. Hamilton did not appear to be in sync with his W15, unlike Russell who once again performed better.
The weather conditions remained clear for FP2, although it was slightly warmer. The second practice session started with ambient temperatures of 20 degrees Celsius and track temperatures rose to 37 degrees.
While other drivers quickly headed out onto the track, Verstappen remained in the garage. His RB20 was raised on stands as the mechanics worked on putting it back together after changing the damaged floor from FP1.
Hamilton quickly experienced a slight loss of control coming out of Turn 1, the same spot where he had a shaky moment in the first practice session. The seven-time F1 champion was still working to find his comfort zone in his W15 car.
If you missed it, take a look at Hamilton’s off-track incident in FP1 below. Get caught up on all the major moments from an eventful first session of the weekend at Albert Park 🎥👇#F1 #AusGP
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 22, 2024
At the start of the session, all the drivers began with runs on Medium tires. Alonso was initially the fastest, followed by Norris and Stroll in second and third place respectively – this occurred ten minutes into the session.
Leclerc also experienced a moment off the track, going off at Turn 10. His SF-24 car hit the curbs quite forcefully.
The order quickly changed as Leclerc claimed the top spot, setting a time over four tenths faster than Perez in second. Meanwhile, Alonso dropped to third place – this happened 15 minutes into the session.
And just to give Williams another scare, Sargeant spun 360 degrees while exiting Turn 11. Fortunately, he was lucky enough to avoid hitting the wall or a nearby car.
As the session approached the 20-minute mark, Verstappen prepared himself by putting on his helmet and the mechanics made the final adjustments to his car.
Qualifying runs soon began, with Alonso being the first to switch to Soft tires and go out for a qualifying run. However, he could only manage the second fastest time, unable to beat Leclerc’s previous time set on Mediums. Alonso’s lap was messy, as he hit the curbs hard at Turn 8, but he managed to continue unlike Albon earlier.
Stroll also attempted a qualifying run on the Softs and ended up going faster than his teammate. However, he made a mistake in the penultimate corner and finished in ninth place.
With 37 minutes remaining, Verstappen finally took to the track on Medium tires. His first timed lap only placed him in 19th position.
Guess who’s here 👋
Max Verstappen has joined us, with 35 minutes left in the session#F1 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/sKUC9SqJgp
— Formula 1 (@F1) March 22, 2024
Russell, in the middle of the session, experienced a mishap at Turn 1, similar to what Hamilton had encountered earlier. There have been reports of tail winds in that area, but Mercedes appears to be struggling with the instability of their cars’ rear ends.
The simulations for qualifying continued, with more drivers opting to use the Soft tires. Various drivers took turns occupying the top position.
Verstappen had an incident with Zhou, which left him displeased. A replay of the team radio revealed that the Chinese driver’s engineer warned him about the approaching Red Bull, but it was a last-minute warning. “Too late bro,” Zhou remarked.
Hamilton’s difficulties with his W15 persisted, as he had another moment off track with 25 minutes remaining and decided to abort his first qualifying run.
With 20 minutes left, Verstappen finally began his qualifying run on the Soft tires, but his initial time only placed him third fastest, with Leclerc in first and Sainz in second at that point.
After a brief pit stop and a second attempt, the three-time F1 Champion managed to improve his time and secure the second fastest position, but he still couldn’t match Leclerc’s pace.
Once the qualifying runs were completed, the teams proceeded to conduct race simulations in the final ten minutes of the session.
Leclerc experienced a moment at Turn 7, losing control of his SF-24 due to some tail wind and veering straight into the run-off area.
Hamilton soon inquired about the lap times of other drivers from his team. The feedback from the engineer was not encouraging, leading the Briton to respond, “Something is wrong.”
Report in progress…