If the first free practice session of the Australian Grand Prix did not give important indications, the second gave a much clearer picture and, be careful, it could open up very interesting scenarios for the rest of the weekend at Albert Park in Melbourne.
Ferrari set the best time of the day thanks to Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque stopped the clock in 1'17″277 in the qualifying simulation with Soft tyres, but had already given good indications in the one done a few minutes earlier with the medium compounds.
The good day of the Maranello team is confirmed by the third place of Carlos Sainz, still not in great shape after the operation carried out 14 days ago in Jeddah due to appendicitis which forced him to miss the second round of the World Championship. The Madrilenian stopped just over 4 tenths behind his teammate.
What makes the greatest impression is the goodness of the set-up found by Ferrari, immediately fast right from the start on the flying lap and the most convincing in the hands of Leclerc also in terms of race pace. It was the most consistent on pace on the mediums, with a pace matched sporadically by the McLarens.
Max Verstappen can never be left out of pole and victory discussions. It is no coincidence that he achieved the second fastest time, almost 4 tenths behind Leclerc, but the RB20s still seem far from having a set-up good enough to be appreciated by the riders from Milton Keynes. Verstappen showed evident understeer in some situations and the changes requested have improved the situation, but not enough to bring the SF-24 number 16 closer, which is in great shape today.
The Aston Martins were surprising, in fourth and fifth place respectively with Lance Stroll – lively in both sessions today – and Fernando Alonso. The impression is that the Silverstone team used a more advanced engine mapping among the teams competing in the top positions. The one who seems to be in difficulty is Mercedes, sixth with Russell and even 18th with Lewis Hamilton.
Both drivers carried out comparative tests today with different surfaces to understand which one is best suited to today's version of the W15. If McLaren – fourth force up to now – has shown very important signs of awakening, Mercedes appears to be at sea: the set-up path chosen for today turned out to be the wrong one. Therefore the team will have to take a few steps back to try to take a couple forward and confirm itself as at least third force.
McLaren did well. Looking at the ranking, doubts about this statement could arise in a few moments, but in terms of race pace the MCL36s convinced both drivers, and quite a bit. On the flying lap it was Oscar Piastri who did best, signing the seventh fastest time, while Lando Norris was ninth. The Briton, however, was the closest driver in the race simulation to Leclerc's best one of the afternoon.
The difficulties revealed by Red Bull today are confirmed by Sergio Perez, eighth among the McLarens but above all more than 8 tenths of a second behind Leclerc. Yuki Tsunoda's Racing Bulls closes the Top 10, tenth, even faster than Daniel Ricciardo, 12th but an improvement compared to Free Practice 1 this morning.
Sauber jumped, with GuanYu Zhou 11th and Valtteri Bottas 12th, with Logan Sargeant inserting himself between Ricciardo and Bottas in 13th place. The American was the only Williams driver to take part in Free Practice 2 due to Alexander Albon's accident in Free Practice 1. The team noticed several damages to the chassis of the FW46 number 23, so they had no way to repair it immediately. time for this afternoon's shift.
Furthermore, Williams has made it known that it does not have a spare chassis, which is why it will try to repair the damaged one on site to have 2 cars at the start of Qualifying and Sunday's race. At the back were the Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, with the former AlphaTauri and Red Bull driver quicker than his teammate.
Nico Hulkenberg redeemed himself by returning ahead of Kevin Magnussen, but it is little satisfaction. At Albert Park in Melbourne the Haas seem to be much less effective than in Jeddah, where the German, also thanks to the help of his teammate, managed to score the first point of the season for the American team.
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