This session has finished. No further updates will be posted.
That concludes Friday’s practice in Melbourne – here’s our report on the second session. More coming soon.
The chequered flag drops and Bearman has not made it out in his Haas.
Norris pits and switches back to his softs with a minute to go.
There’s only four minutes left but Bearman is finally putting his helmet on.
Leclerc running a slightly faster pace on the mediums at the moment than Norris. Verstappen a few tenths off the pair of them on the same rubber.
Verstappen completes his lap and sets a 1’17.063 for seventh. He was well into that run on softs, though.
Finally a lap coming from Verstappen? He does a personal best first sector time, as does Alexander Albon.
Piastri goes quickest in the final sector as he sets the second-fastest time, still a tenth off Leclerc.
Leclerc displaced Norris at the top of the times with a 1’16.439, over a tenth of a second quicker than the McLaren. Verstappen still hasn’t got anything like a representative time in, encountering traffic and backing out.
Fernando Alonso takes to the grass at turn one. An unimpressed Gasly picks his way through traffic at turn four.
Isack Hadjar produces a decent lap for fifth – Williams caught the eye in the first session, Racing Bulls have in the second.
There is once again a significant amount of gravel just off-line at the exit of turn six. Unlike in the first session, no red flag yet.
Verstappen starts a lap but backs out of it after a twitch of oversteer at turn three. Norris goes top with a 1’16.580, two-tenths up on Tsunoda.
Yuki Tsunoda now takes the top time with a 1’16.784 in his Racing Bulls.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli goes 10th on softs, three-tenths of a second off his team mate.
Liam Lawson only 14th with that run on a set of softs – and he was outside of track limits at turn four.
The Sauber mechanics are busy working on Hulkenberg’s floor after his trip through the gravel. We’re 20 minutes into the session and Bearman has still not joined the track.
Leclerc does the fastest first sector and gets a cleaner end to the lap, lopping half a second off Sainz’s best time with a 1’16.794 which is by far the fastest time of the day so far. Hamilton pops up to second behind him, four-tenths of a second slower.
Norris produces the fastest time of all in the first sector, despite seemingly not having a great run out of the final corner, but pits at the end of the lap.
Pierre Gasly is the latest driver to discover a gravel trap, he goes off at turn three. “I can’t brake,” he reports.
Charles Leclerc starts a decent lap but picks up some serious understeer in the final sector and backs out of it.
Speaking of Norris, he understeers wildly at the exit of turn four but gathers it up. Nico Hulkenberg’s eventful session goes on as he clatters through the gravel trap at turn six.
Carlos Sainz Jnr began a quick lap but had to back out of it when he caught Piastri. He tries again ang goes quickest of all, on the medium rubber, with a 1’17.302. That’s five-hundredths of a second off Norris’s benchmark from earlier today, set on softs.
Russell nabs the top time from Norris by a tenth of a second, running a set of the hard tyres on his Mercedes.
Norris puts up a 1’17.671 to go quickest on the medium rubber, four-tenths of a second slower than he went on the softs in the earlier session.
Nico Hulkenberg radios his team and says he needs to pit because a ‘safety plug’ has been left in his car.
Now George Russell takes a close look at Norris as they approach turn nine but thinks better of it.
For the second session in a row, Norris drops a wheel onto the grass soon after leaving the garage, this time it’s in the pit lane exit as he swerves around Liam Lawson.
Haas are busy working on Oliver Bearman’s car which he damaged in first practice. It’s still up on stands in the garage so he won’t be heading out immediately.
Lando Norris set the pace in the opening session earlier today, but there was very little between the teams. The seven fastest different cars were covered by six tenths of a second – an encouraging sign for the season ahead.
Second practice for the 2025 Australian Grand Prix is coming up next.
2025 Australian Grand Prix
- Lawson admits he was “too slow” after ending practice 17th
- ‘There’s 24 Fridays and you can ask me anything, I won’t answer’ – Alonso
- Leclerc leads McLarens as Bearman misses second practice
- Vasseur has no doubt Hamilton will be able to “perform soon” at Ferrari
- Live: 2025 Australian Grand Prix second practice
