2026 Australian GP FP2: Piastri thrills Home crowd with FP2 pace

Oscar Piastri sent the home crowd into early celebration by topping the second practice session for the Australian Grand Prix, beating Mercedes duo Kimi Antonelli and George Russell as teams continued to explore the limits of Formula 1’s new generation of machinery in the opening weekend of the 2026 F1 World Championship.

After an eventful first practice session earlier in the day, attention shifted to Free Practice 2 at Albert Park, where teams hoped for cleaner running and a clearer picture of the competitive order. A small group of drivers were already waiting at the end of the pit lane when the session began, including reigning world champion Lando Norris, who had lost valuable track time in FP1 while McLaren carried out precautionary gearbox checks.

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The early minutes quickly produced drama. George Russell made contact with Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad in the pit lane, clipping the youngster’s car during a tight exit sequence. Moments later on track, Franco Colapinto slowed dramatically, forcing Lewis Hamilton into a sharp evasive manoeuvre to avoid contact. Both incidents were immediately noted by race stewards and will be investigated after the session.

Red Bull also encountered early trouble as Max Verstappen stalled the RB22 in the pit lane, leaving mechanics to push the car back into the garage so the team could reset the systems before he could begin a flying lap.

2026 Australian Grand Prix FP2 Results

2026 Australian Grand Prix FP2, 6 March 2026

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Time / Gap	Laps
1	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:19.729	26
2	12	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+0.214s	31
3	63	George Russell	Mercedes	+0.320s	28
4	44	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+0.321s	32
5	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+0.562s	30
6	3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	+0.637s	13
7	1	Lando Norris	McLaren	+1.065s	29
8	41	Arvid Lindblad	Racing Bulls	+1.193s	30
9	6	Isack Hadjar	Red Bull Racing	+1.212s	28
10	31	Esteban Ocon	Haas F1 Team	+1.450s	29
11	87	Oliver Bearman	Haas F1 Team	+1.597s	31
12	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Audi	+1.622s	34
13	30	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+1.629s	29
14	5	Gabriel Bortoleto	Audi	+1.939s	28
15	23	Alexander Albon	Williams	+2.118s	32
16	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+2.438s	16
17	55	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+2.524s	10
18	43	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+2.890s	27
19	77	Valtteri Bottas	Cadillac	+3.931s	28
20	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+4.933s	18
21	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+6.087s	13
22	11	Sergio Perez	Cadillac		2

Unlike the opening session, several teams opted to begin their run programmes on hard tyres, gathering early data for the 58-lap race on Sunday. Once the first representative laps were logged, the timing screens showed Kimi Antonelli and George Russell leading the way for Mercedes, sandwiching Ferrari’s Hamilton after the initial sequence of timed runs.

Further down the pit lane, Fernando Alonso finally took to the track after missing FP1 with a suspected power unit problem. The Spaniard completed a slow installation lap around the circuit roughly 15 minutes into the session, but returned to the garage without setting a lap time. Teammate Lance Stroll did manage to log a time but remained near the bottom of the classification.

As the session evolved, the switch to the red-walled soft tyres began. Russell was among the first to bolt on the C5 compound and immediately raised the benchmark, going faster than Charles Leclerc’s FP1-leading lap by more than two tenths to set the quickest time seen so far on the opening day.

Mercedes’ pace continued to gather attention. Antonelli soon became the first driver to dip into the 1m19s bracket, breaking the barrier shortly before the halfway point of the hour and underlining the Silver Arrows’ apparent strength over a single lap.

Not everything ran smoothly for the Brackley team, however. Russell suffered a lock-up at Turn 3, bouncing through the gravel before rejoining the circuit. Hamilton later experienced a similar moment at the same corner, highlighting the fine margins drivers were navigating as they adapted to the 2026 cars.

As the clock ticked down, Piastri delivered the lap the Melbourne crowd had been waiting for, reclaiming the top spot on the timing screens with an impressive run. At that stage the expected front-running quartet of teams — Ferrari, Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren — filled the top positions, though Lindblad once again proved his earlier speed was no fluke by remaining firmly in the mix.

With 10 minutes remaining, Verstappen endured a dramatic moment at Turn 10, suffering a sudden snap of oversteer at high speed. The Red Bull driver managed to keep the car out of the wall but ran through the gravel, damaging the floor in the process.

Late-session issues continued elsewhere as both Lance Stroll and Williams driver Carlos Sainz returned to the pits after limited running due to separate, unspecified problems.

Cadillac’s evening also unravelled when Sergio Perez stopped at the side of the track, bringing out a Virtual Safety Car with what appeared to be a hydraulic failure. The Mexican had already endured a frustrating session after a sensor fault restricted his earlier running and ultimately prevented him from setting a meaningful lap time.

When the chequered flag fell, it was Piastri who remained on top, the Australian clocking a 1m19.729s lap to lead the field and finish the day on a high in front of his home fans. His time left him 0.214 seconds clear of Antonelli, with Russell just behind in third.

Hamilton finished fourth, only 0.001 seconds slower than Russell, though the Ferrari driver was noted by officials for a practice start infringement during the session.

Leclerc ended FP2 fifth fastest, followed by Verstappen in sixth. A noticeable gap then opened to Norris in seventh, while Lindblad, Isack Hadjar and Esteban Ocon completed the top ten.

Just outside the top ten, Ollie Bearman placed 11th for Haas ahead of Audi’s Nico Hulkenberg in 12th. Liam Lawson, Gabriel Bortoleto, Alex Albon and Pierre Gasly followed.

After completing just 10 laps, Sainz finished 17th, narrowly ahead of Colapinto and Valtteri Bottas. The Aston Martin drivers Alonso and Stroll ended the session 20th and 21st respectively, while Perez was classified last after managing only two laps.