Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc topped Friday Practice for the 2025 Australian Grand Prix.
Leclerc finished third in FP1 but ultimately proved quickest in FP2 to top the day’s running from McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris – who had topped FP1 as the reigning constructors’ champions again looked competitive at the front of the field.
Isack Hadjar meanwhile surprisingly proved to be the quickest rookie in a strong start to his first weekend as a F1 driver at Racing Bulls.
FP1
Nico Hulkenberg on his return to Sauber after a 11-season absence from the team was first to venture out but it was McLaren’s Norris who soon set the pace, as the Brit posted 1m 21.896 as the initial early benchmark time.
His lap was soon beaten by several drivers as Leclerc quickly lowered the benchmark to 1m 18.317 before the pair traded fastest laps on their next fliers, with Leclerc soon setting the pace on 1m 17.880 as Mercedes’ George Russell split the pair come the end of the opening stints.
Attention soon turned to soft-tyre qualifying simulations as Verstappen found 0.184 seconds to set 1m 17.696 as the quickest lap time on the half-hour mark, albeit 0.020s faster than Russell who set his time less than a minute later.
Sainz however produced a surprise 1m 17.401 to set the pace as the red flags came out with 20 minutes left after Haas’ Oliver Bearman spun out between Turns Six and Seven, although the Brit escaped unharmed.
The session resumed with 11 minutes left but Norris left it until the penultimate minute to snatch the fastest lap of the session with 1m 17.252, ahead of Sainz and Leclerc.
Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar was the fastest rookie in the session with the ninth quickest lap time on his first competitive F1 outing as a full-time graduate, having driven for Red Bull last season at Silverstone and Yas Marina to fulfil their FP1 young driver requirement.
Hamilton on his first competitive Ferrari debut only managed the 12th quickest lap time as everyone except Bearman set their fastest lap times on the soft tyre.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1m 17.252 |
| 2 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 0.149 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.209 |
| 4 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.418 |
| 5 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.444 |
| 6 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.461 |
| 7 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.464 |
| 8 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.484 |
| 9 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | + 0.595 |
| 10 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.805 |
| 11 | Yuki Tsunoda | Racing Bulls | + 0.809 |
| 12 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.819 |
| 13 | Jack Doohan | Alpine | + 0980 |
| 14 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 1.138 |
| 15 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber | + 1.186 |
| 16 | Liam Lawson | Red Bull | + 1.203 |
| 17 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.253 |
| 18 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | + 1.334 |
| 19 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 1.887 |
| 20 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 2.060 |
FP2
Bortoleto was first out on track as everyone bar Bearman ventured out with the majority on medium tyres, except for the Mercedes pair but Russell soon set the pace on the hard compound with 1m 17.565 in the opening ten minutes.
Sainz displaced the Brit in the 11th minute with 1m 17.302 but Leclerc ultimately was fastest in the opening stint, as the Monegasque driver posted 1m 16.794 on his medium tyres in the 18th minute to go top from his teammate – Hamilton who was 0.400s slower.
Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda looked like a surprise challenger on the representative soft tyre qualifying simulation with 1m 16.784, but Norris soon displaced him by 0.204s moments later.
Leclerc eventually topped the day with 1m 16.439 on his soft-tyre run ahead of home hero, Oscar Piastri and Norris as McLaren rounded out the top three.
Bearman didn’t get out on track and consequently sat out the session due to his FP1 crash.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 16.439 |
| 2 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.124 |
| 3 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.141 |
| 4 | Yuki Tsunoda | Racing Bulls | + 0.345 |
| 5 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.420 |
| 6 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls | + 0.580 |
| 7 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.620 |
| 8 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber | + 0.722 |
| 9 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.840 |
| 10 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.843 |
| 11 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 0.863 |
| 12 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.863 |
| 13 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.891 |
| 14 | Jack Doohan | Alpine | + 0.955 |
| 15 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.054 |
| 16 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 1.195 |
| 17 | Liam Lawson | Red Bull | + 1.201 |
| 18 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber | + 1.408 |
| 19 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 1.595 |
| 20 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | No Time |