McLaren’s Oscar Piastri topped Friday Practice for the 2026 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne, Australia.
Ferrari topped FP1 as Charles Leclerc headed Lewis Hamilton in a Scuderia one-two ahead of the Red Bull duo of Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar.
Piastri however rebounded in FP2 after a relatively quiet FP1 to emerge fastest overall across the day’s running.
FP1
Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg was first out on track ahead of Haas’ Esteban Ocon but it was the latter who set the initial benchmark time of 1m 34.589 on the medium tyres, as everyone but Williams’ Carlos Sainz and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll ran the medium tyres in their opening stints.
Sainz and Stroll meanwhile opted for the hard tyre for their opening stints.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri meanwhile reported “no throttle” initially but recovered power whilst rookie, Arvid Lindblad stopped at the pit exit and had to be wheeled back due to a technical issue.
Up front, Verstappen set 1m 22.920 as the immediate pace and soon found himself tussling with his new teammate – Isack Hadjar plus Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for the fastest lap as lap times soon tumbled.
Leclerc eventually found himself quickest at the halfway mark with 1m 21.227 ahead of Verstappen and Hadjar with the trio split by 0.233 seconds.
Attention soon switched to the soft tyre as Verstappen set 1m 20.908 before he found 0.119s on his second flier in the 47th minute, only for Hamilton to produce 1m 20.736 to snatch the fastest lap time of the session barely a minute later to head Verstappen and Leclerc as 0.093s covered the trio.
Leclerc however left it to the death to snatch the fastest overall time with 1m 20.267 to head his teammate.
Reigning champion, Lando Norris meanwhile only managed seven laps due to a gearbox issue as he finished a lowly 19th quickest, whilst Williams’ Alex Albon stopped on the exit of Turn 10 due to a hydraulic issue with 12 minutes left in the session.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 20.267 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.469 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.522 |
| 4 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | + 0.820 |
| 5 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 1.046 |
| 6 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 1.075 |
| 7 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 1.104 |
| 8 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 1.109 |
| 9 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 1.429 |
| 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | + 1.702 |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 1.894 |
| 12 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 2.056 |
| 13 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 2.346 |
| 14 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 2.415 |
| 15 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 2.863 |
| 16 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 3,058 |
| 17 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 3.755 |
| 18 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 3.768 |
| 19 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 4.124 |
| 20 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | + 4.353 |
| 21 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 30.067 |
| 22 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | No Time |
FP2
Hulkenberg again was the first driver out on track on medium tyres and set 1m 23.262 as the initial benchmark which was quickly scuppered, as Hamilton set 1m 21.506 on hard tyres to go fastest.
Russell however went even quicker with 1m 21.300 in the fifth minute to head his Mercedes teammate, Antonelli by 0.106s, whilst Verstappen came to a stop in the pit lane as he exited the pits and lost valuable track time for nearly 25 minutes as Red Bull sorted out his technical issue.
Up front, Hamilton briefly displaced Russell in the ninth minute whilst Antonelli set 1m 20.801 to go fastest, until Piastri set 1m 20.638 in the 14th minute to displace the Italian.
Mercedes were first to jump to soft-tyre qualifying simulations as Russell set 1m 20.049 in the 19th minute, but Antonelli responded on his second soft-tyre flier to set 1m 19.943 as the fastest lap at the halfway mark of the session.
Piastri meanwhile waited until the 36th minute to set 1m 19.729 to top the day’s running from Antonelli and Russell, whilst Hamilton and Leclerc rounded out the top five.
Cadillac’s Sergio Perez sat out much of the session due to a sensor issue but got out with six minutes left, only to stop on his outlap, whilst Sainz was the only driver amongst 21 timed runners to set his fastest lap on medium rather than soft tyre.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1m 19.729 |
| 2 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | + 0.214 |
| 3 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.320 |
| 4 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | + 0.321 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.562 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.637 |
| 7 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.065 |
| 8 | Arvid Lindblad | Racing Bulls | + 1.193 |
| 9 | Isack Hadjar | Red Bull | + 1.212 |
| 10 | Esteban Ocon | Haas | + 1.450 |
| 11 | Oliver Bearman | Haas | + 1.597 |
| 12 | Nico Hulkenberg | Audi | + 1.622 |
| 13 | Liam Lawson | Racing Bulls | + 1.629 |
| 14 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Audi | + 1,939 |
| 15 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 2.118 |
| 16 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 2.438 |
| 17 | Carlos Sainz | Williams | + 2.524 |
| 18 | Franco Colapinto | Alpine | + 2.890 |
| 19 | Valtteri Bottas | Cadillac | + 3.931 |
| 20 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 5.210 |
| 21 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 6.087 |
| 22 | Sergio Perez | Cadillac | No Time |
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