By Ian Ransom
MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Charles Leclerc left new Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton trailing in his wake as he topped the timesheets in the second free practice at the season-opening Australian Formula One Grand Prix on Friday.
Leclerc lapped the Albert Park circuit in one minute, 16.439 seconds on soft tyres, 0.124 seconds better than McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who nudged teammate Lando Norris into third.
Seven-times world champion Hamilton was fifth, an improvement on his 12th ranking in the first session (FP1), but more than four-tenths of a second behind Leclerc.
Yuki Tsunoda, who missed out on a seat at Red Bull to New Zealander Liam Lawson, was fourth in FP2 while rookie teammate Isack Hadjar was sixth in an encouraging day for the rebadged Racing Bulls.
Defending F1 champion Max Verstappen managed only the seventh fastest lap for Red Bull, while George Russell, the fastest for Mercedes, was 10th.
With six drivers starting a championship season for the first time, there were plenty of incidents throughout the day.
Briton Oliver Bearman was unable to take part in the second session having damaged his Haas with a heavy shunt after a slide through gravel when exiting turn six earlier in the day.
With his right rear wheel dislodged and bouncing down the track, the unharmed 19-year-old spun across the track and apologised to his team after coming to a halt.
It was the second of two red flags to halt FP1, with stewards reporting debris from an unnamed car in the first.
Carlos Sainz and teammate Alex Albon finished 11th and 12th respectively for Williams in FP2, dropping back after being second and sixth earlier.
Russell reported trouble with his car in FP1, complaining of understeer at high speed and excessive heat.
He spun off track with a minute left in the session, narrowly avoiding a front-on collision with a wall after setting the seventh-quickest lap.
His rookie teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli was 14th before dropping to 16th in FP2.
Alpine’s embattled rookie Jack Doohan and Red Bull’s new driver Liam Lawson needed repairs to the floors of their cars after veering off track in FP1.
Lawson, occupying arguably the toughest race seat in F1 as Verstappen’s teammate, had a rough start, brushing the wall at turn nine minutes into the early session and was ordered back to the garage.
There was no major damage, though, allowing him to rejoin the session and post the 16th quickest lap, one better than his effort in FP2.
(Reporting by Ian Ransom in Melbourne; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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