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2026 Formula 1 Australian GP
Mar 5, 2026 to Mar 8, 2026
| Melbourne Grand Prix Circuit, AU
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Formula 1 Australian GP
F1 Australian GP live commentary and updates - FP2
Follow along for the second Friday practice session ahead of the Australian Grand Prix
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02:12:32 am
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02:08:26 am
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So, there it is - Friday practice comes to a close. But there's more from us, as we analyse the early signs from FP1 and FP2 on Autosport and bring you the latest reaction over on Motorsport.com.
Thanks for joining us, and we'll see you bright and early tomorrow!
02:04:33 am
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We've got a few more practice starts - and again, those Ferrari-powered machines are pretty swift off the line.
The start on Sunday is going to be incredibly fun.
Checkered flag
02:02:04 am
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Friday practice is over!
The first batch of Friday practice sessions is now complete, with home hero Oscar Piastri on top of the charts. Antonelli, Russell, Hamilton, Leclerc, and Verstappen complete the top six, with Norris about 0.4s behind them.
02:00:33 am
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More Turn 3 lock-ups - Leclerc now has his moment through the gravel. It's hard to balance the engine braking through that corner.
Bit of traffic for the Monegasque on his return to the asphalt.
Green flag
01:58:13 am
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Now that the Cadillac has been cleared, the long runs can continue. Nice to see use of the VSC, rather than losing time to red flags.
Yellow flag
01:55:39 am
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Perez has had to stop at the side of the road at Turn 11, having found an issue. He's managed just two laps in this session.
Verstappen has also pitted as his car needs a new floor after that Turn 9/10 excursion.
01:53:36 am
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Both McLaren drivers are doing their longer runs on softs, while the Mercedes and Ferraris are driving around on the hards.
Perez was about to start a lap having finally got on-track, but he's baulked by Antonelli on a race run.
01:50:56 am
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"Box, we have an issue," Stroll is told. He's got 13 laps on the board, so that's something, I suppose. Alonso is still circulating, with a best lap of a 1m24.939s - 5.2s off the pace.
Verstappen, meanwhile, has a big off at Turn 10 and skitters across the gravel as he suffered a front-end snap. Brown trouser moment for the four-time champion.
01:46:05 am
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Norris goes seventh on his first flying lap of the session after a bit of a lay-off in the pits. Most of the soft runs have concluded, with more than half of the grid now back on mediums and hards.
Bottas kicks the rear of his Cadillac out - his team-mate Perez still hasn't appeared yet on-track.
01:40:35 am
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Russell's going to be investigated for a practice start infringement - it's not totally clear when and how.
Hamilton stays fourth, but does a lap that brings him within 0.001s of Russell. If we were expecting the new regs to open up the gaps around the field, nobody told the top four teams...
01:39:00 am
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Piastri now goes quickest with a 1m19.729s with his first effort on softs. McLaren didn't come out of testing with a great amount of confidence that it could be on top, but it's a good lap there.
Verstappen goes up to sixth, 0.637s off Piastri's time, while Hamilton goes off at Turn 3 and skitters across the gravel. He's having another go.
Stopwatch
01:33:39 am
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Hamilton gets a 1m20.119s on the board, getting close to the Mercedes duo - he's just 0.176s off Antonelli's effort.
Leclerc's first soft-tyre lap was almost 0.4s off Antonelli, so he's going to go again.
01:32:13 am
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Perez hasn't been able to go out on track yet, with some work being done to the rear of his car - apparently a sensor issue.
Cadillac is hoping to get the Mexican driver on track soon.
01:29:24 am
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Verstappen has now returned to the track after that stall issue. Russell also has an off at Turn 3, locking up and spilling into the gravel.
Lindblad is fifth again after his lap on soft tyres, so he's looking confident off the bat.
Stopwatch
01:27:02 am
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Antonelli is first to go below the 1m20s bracket, setting a 1m19.943s on his second run with the same soft tyres.
Lawson goes up to fifth after his first flyer on the softs, but he's nudged down by both Ocon and Bearman.
01:24:14 am
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Verstappen's still in the garage after that stall in the pit lane. Alonso is also back in the stalls after his two tours of the track.
Stroll's on a lap on softs, but seven seconds down on Russell's time. To be fair to Aston Martin, that's their first push lap of the day.
Stopwatch
01:20:44 am
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Norris gets a 'proper' time on the board, a 1m22.712s, but there's still a couple of seconds to find as he dials himself in.
Russell's on a quick one now, turning in a lap on the softs. It's a 1m20.049s, 0.6s up on Piastri's hard-tyre benchmark.
Antonelli's also quick, albeit with a little bit of a wide out of Turn 10. That's 0.178s behind Russell.
01:16:32 am
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Soft tyres for Alonso as he emerges for the first time this weekend - gingerly - on the softs. He's going very slowly on this outlap.
Hadjar has a massive snap through Turn 5, but corrects it - one might argue a similar situation with the old cars might not be rescuable.
Stopwatch
01:14:36 am
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Antonelli posts a 1m20.801s to go top, while Hamilton can't improve on his next tour.
But Piastri now puts a McLaren on top, grabbing a 1m20.638s.
And what's this - Alonso looks like he's about to go on track!
01:11:21 am
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Piastri goes up to third to split the two Mercedes. It's Hamilton from Russell, Piastri, Antonelli, Leclerc, Hadjar, and Hulkenberg after 10 minutes of this session.
Stopwatch
01:09:58 am
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Hamilton now sets a 1m20.903s on the hards, but Russell's going quicker - at least, until the final sector as he just falls 0.081s shy of his ex-team-mate.
The stewards will look at Colapinto's slow moment and the Russell/Lindblad pitlane scuffle.
Stopwatch
01:08:21 am
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Russell is up to a 1m21.300s on the hard tyre, faster than his soft-tyre time from FP1, while Antonelli goes second. Hamilton is third, Piastri fourth.
Verstappen is being wheeled back into the garage, as his car is apparently stuck in gear. Stroll has been on track too, but only for one lap.
01:06:03 am
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Hamilton kicks us off with a 1m21.506s. Colapinto was very slow on the straight just then, causing Hamilton to take evasive action.
Meanwhile, Verstappen's just stalled in the pitlane and he's not able to move.
01:03:25 am
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Fernando Alonso's car doesn't look like it's going anywhere soon. Meanwhile, Russell's getting a new nose as he clipped Lindblad trying to get out of the pits.
"This guy's just hit my front wing," Russell says, although Lindblad had fast-lane privileges. That'll be noted by the stewards.
Lights green
01:01:11 am
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FP2 begins!
Hulkenberg, Hamilton, Gasly and Norris have hit the road first. Norris missed a fair chunk of FP1 with a gearbox issue, so he's hoping to make up for lost time.
Sun
12:58:44 am
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Weather report
It's a little bit sunnier than it was in FP1 - 22C now, with a breeze tousling the flags in the grandstands.
Track temperature is 31C - down from 35C in FP1.
12:55:37 am
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Where was Mercedes in FP1?
George Russell, tipped by many as the favourite for the 2026 championship, was 1.1s off Leclerc's FP1 benchmark. So, where's that time?
GPS data shows that the Mercedes driver, on his best lap versus that of Leclerc, had moments where he was up to 30kph slower on the run to Turn 9 - which is where he lost most of that time.
Did he choose not to deploy in that stretch? Did Merc turn its engines down? We'll find out if there's any more in the tank in a few minutes' time...
George Russell, Mercedes
Photo by: Paul Crock / AFP via Getty Images
12:47:38 am
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Lindblad, Audi impress in FP1
Rookie Arvid Lindblad had a stall on the exit of the pit lane at the start of the session, but his luck picked up across the rest of FP1 - the Brit ended the first hour-long session in fifth place.
Audi also looked good, sitting ninth and 10th in the times in its first weekend as a works outfit. Of course, the team has years of experience, but this is an all-new engine project.
Nico Hulkenberg, Audi F1 Team
Photo by: Paul Crock / AFP via Getty Images
12:43:33 am
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Aston Martin: No more spare batteries
Adrian Newey has revealed that Aston Martin has no more spare batteries for its Honda powertrains at the Australian Grand Prix, and that he feels "powerless" amid the current situation the team is in for 2026.
Aston Martin has endured an arduous prelude to the 2026 season, with its key issues traced to Honda's powertrain - which produces excessive vibrations when in operation.
"We've had a fresh problem of communication internally with the battery to its management system," he explained.
"But the underlying, the much more underlying problem is the vibration issues that we continue to struggle with.
"I think realistically it's just trying to manage the problem. We are short on batteries. We've only got two batteries left, the two that are in the car."
Lance Stroll, Aston Martin Racing
Photo by: Alastair Staley / LAT Images via Getty Images
12:40:00 am
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FP1 recap
Ferrari's Charles Leclerc headed team-mate Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull's Max Verstappen to lead the first practice session of Formula 1's new era that starts at the Australian Grand Prix.
Leclerc's last-minute effort of 1m20.267s demoted team-mate Hamilton from top spot.
Full report
Formula 1
F1 Australian GP: Leclerc tops first 2026 practice as McLaren and Aston Martin hit trouble
12:37:05 am
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FP2 coming up soon...
And we're back! F1's FP2 session is coming up, so thanks for joining us again - we'll bring you updates from the second practice session as they happen, whether you're watching or not!
Valtteri Bottas, Cadillac Racing
Photo by: Paul Crock / AFP via Getty Images
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By: Jake Boxall-Legge
Published: Mar 6, 2026, 6:12 AM
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