F1 News: Charles Leclerc tops Practice 2 for the Australian GP

#16 Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc turned a lap of 1m16.439s to top Practice 2 for the 2025 Australian GP around the Albert Park Circuit.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Next up were the sandbagging McLaren’s of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, who were 0.124s and 0.141s behind Leclerc respectively.

Related Article:  Formula 1 News: Norris tops opening practice for Australian GP

With a 100% chance of rain forecast for Sunday, the teams have to decide whether they set up the car for dry qualifying on Saturday, or sacrifice qualifying and set up the car with higher downforce for the wet conditions on Sunday.

Fourth quick was Yuki Tsunoda in the #22 Racing Bull, 0.345s behind Leclerc.

Lewis Hamilton rounded out the top-5 in the #44 Ferrari, 0.420s behind teammate Leclerc.

Isack Hadjar was 6th fastest in the 2nd Racing Bull, 0.580s behind Leclerc and ahead of the Red Bull of Max Verstappen that looks rather diabolical. Liam Lawson seems to be struggling with the RB21, while Verstappen has yet to find a set-up to his liking.

Tsunoda and Hadjar both finished in the top 10 ahead of their Red Bull counterparts, but they appeared to be running low fuel loads.

Nico Hulkenberg, Lance Stroll and George Russell rounded out the top-10.  Russell, like he did in Practice 1, lost control of his Mercedes but missed hitting any walls.

Mercedes ran a different program to the rest, concentrating on the hard tire, so it remains to be seen just how quick they are on lower fuel runs.

2025 Australian GP Practice 2 Results