George Russell will speak to the stewards over two incidents during a second practice session for the Australian Grand Prix led by home hero Oscar Piastri.<\/p>\n
Russell was initially involved in a pit-lane collision with Racing Bulls rookie Arvid Lindblad before being noted for a practice start infringement later in the hour of running at Melbourne’s Albert Park.<\/p>\n
The Briton finished the session third quickest behind McLaren driver Piastri and Mercedes team-mate Kimi Antonelli, with a third of a second separating the trio, led by the Australian’s 1:19.729s.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tFerrari not as good as in FP1<\/p>\n
Twenty minutes into the session, Russell recorded a lap quicker than the leading FP1 time from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, posting a 1:20.049s on the first of the soft-tyre runs.<\/p>\n
That will have been a relief to Russell after enduring an awkward moment in the pit lane with fellow Briton Lindblad just as the session started.<\/p>\n
As Russell tried to squeeze in front of Lindblad to join the queue in the fast lane, the 18-year-old ran over the end of the front wing of the Mercedes.<\/p>\n
It necessitated Russell’s pit crew pushing him back into the garage for a front-wing change, and the stewards announced they would be investigating the incident post-session.<\/p>\n
Before the half-hour mark, and as the soft-tyre runs began to increase, Antonelli became the first driver to break the 80-second barrier, posting a 1:19.943s.<\/p>\n
Lewis Hamilton’s opening soft-tyre attempt saw him post the leading time in the first sector, only to drift away slightly in the second and third, and finish 0.176s adrift of Antonelli.<\/p>\n
Leclerc fared even worse with a 1:20.291s, before Piastri sent the home crowd into raptures with the leading time of 1:19.729s, which remained the benchmark for the remainder of the day.<\/p>\n
A second attempt on the same tyre from Leclerc saw him improve marginally, albeit finishing 0.562s behind Piastri, before a second run from Hamilton saw him trundle across the gravel at one stage.<\/p>\n
The seven-time champion cooled off before going again, finishing fourth quickest, one-thousandth of a second behind Russell.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\tAston get in some running<\/p>\n
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who had endured his own frightening gravel moment at Turn 10 late in the session, finished sixth, and the only other driver within a second of Piastri, 0.637s adrift.<\/p>\n
There was then a gap of just over four-tenths of a second to current champion Lando Norris in his McLaren. A clutch issue had led to little running for the Briton in FP1 before a more solid outing in FP2, albeit 1.065s behind Piastri.<\/p>\n
Lindblad was again impressive, finishing eighth fastest, quicker than Verstappen’s new Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar by 0.019s, with Haas duo Esteban Ocon and Oliver Bearman in 10th and 11th.<\/p>\n
Further down the field, there were issues for Williams’ Carlos Sainz, who managed just 10 laps and was 2.524s off the pace in 17th, and for Cadillac’s Sergio Perez.<\/p>\n
The Mexican was delayed exiting the garage due to a sensor issue, and when he did get going, he pulled over on his out lap due to a hydraulics problem.<\/p>\n
As for Perez’s team-mate, Valtteri Bottas, the Finn was 19th and almost four second back, with the only other drivers slower being Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll.<\/p>\n
Alonso missed all of FP1 due to a PU issue, but chalked up 18 laps in FP2, but was nearly five seconds down, whilst Stroll added 13 laps and just over a second further back.<\/p>\n
Don’t miss out on any of the Formula 1 action thanks to this handy 2026 F1 calendar that can be easily loaded into your smartphone or PC.<\/p>\n