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Formula 1 Australian GP
F1 Grand Prix practice results: Leclerc fastest in Australian GP on Friday
Charles Leclerc was fastest during Australian Grand Prix practice in Melbourne on Friday, the third round of the 2022 Formula 1 World Championship.
Charles Bradley Rachit Thukral
Edited: Apr 10, 2022, 8:52 AM
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Sainz led the opening practice session at Albert Park before Ferrari teammate Leclerc managed to go even faster in FP2 to end the day the quickest of all.
Red Bull emerged as Ferrari's closest challenger in both practice sessions, with Max Verstappen leading the charge for the Austrian team.
Australian Grand Prix FP1 results: Sainz fastest from Leclerc
Cla # Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval 1 55 
Carlos Sainz Jr. 
Ferrari 24 1'19.806 2 16 
Charles Leclerc 
Ferrari 21 1'20.377 0.571 0.571 3 11 
Sergio Perez 
Red Bull 20 1'20.399 0.593 0.022 4 1 
Max Verstappen Red Bull 22 1'20.626 0.820 0.227 5 4 
Lando Norris 
McLaren 22 1'20.878 1.072 0.252 6 31 
Esteban Ocon 
Alpine 27 1'21.004 1.198 0.126 7 44 Lewis Hamilton 
Mercedes 26 1'21.027 1.221 0.023 8 3 
Daniel Ricciardo 
McLaren 23 1'21.155 1.349 0.128 9 14 Fernando Alonso 
Alpine 21 1'21.229 1.423 0.074 10 77 
Valtteri Bottas 
Alfa Romeo 23 1'21.247 1.441 0.018 11 22 
Yuki Tsunoda 
AlphaTauri 26 1'21.289 1.483 0.042 12 63 George Russell 
Mercedes 26 1'21.457 1.651 0.168 13 5 
Sebastian Vettel 
Aston Martin 18 1'21.661 1.855 0.204 14 10 Pierre Gasly 
AlphaTauri 26 1'21.701 1.895 0.040 15 24 
Zhou Guanyu 
Alfa Romeo 21 1'21.821 2.015 0.120 16 18 
Lance Stroll 
Aston Martin 24 1'21.869 2.063 0.048 17 23 
Alex Albon 
Williams 25 1'22.754 2.948 0.885 18 20 
Kevin Magnussen 
Haas 18 1'23.186 3.380 0.432 19 6 Nicholas Latifi 
Williams 25 1'23.924 4.118 0.738 20 47 Mick Schumacher 
Haas 15 1'24.349 4.543 0.425
What happened in Australian GP Free Practice 1?
Verstappen set the bar at 1m21.625s, running the soft tyres early, and lowered his time to 1m21.140s and 1m20.909s as the track began to rubber-in. A piece then fell off teammate Perez’s Red Bull, causing a brief red flag after 21 minutes.
Verstappen ran again on the softs, trimming his fastest time down to 1m20.857s. Leclerc then grabbed the top spot with 1m20.825s.
Verstappen retook P1 on 1m20.377s before Leclerc and Sainz grabbed a Ferrari 1-2, with Carlos on top with 1m20.325s, just 0.052s ahead of his teammate. Sainz then improved the P1 time to 1m19.806s, over half a second clear of the pack, but escaped a huge moment on the exit of Turn 2 in the closing minutes of the session.
Leclerc’s biggest moment came at Turn 1 when he visited the gravel after a practice launch from the pitlane and then another excursion at Turn 13 on his last lap.
Perez took third late on, half a second off Sainz, with Verstappen fourth, another two tenths further back, ahead of Lando Norris (McLaren), Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes).
Kevin Magnussen had a brief off at Turn 3 in his Haas but continued. Fernando Alonso suffered a quick spin, while Sebastian Vettel’s first day back at Aston Martin after his COVID diagnosis ended in a cloud of smoke that caused a second red flag.
His ride back to the pitlane on a scooter did not go down well with the FIA.
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Australian Grand Prix FP2 results: Leclerc fastest from Verstappen
Cla # Driver Chassis Engine Time Gap 1 16 Charles Leclerc Ferrari Ferrari 1'18.978 2 1 Max Verstappen Red Bull Red Bull 1'19.223 0.245 3 55 Carlos Sainz Ferrari Ferrari 1'19.376 0.398 4 14 Fernando Alonso Alpine Renault 1'19.537 0.559 5 11 Sergio Perez Red Bull Red Bull 1'19.658 0.680 6 31 Esteban Ocon Alpine Renault 1'19.842 0.864 7 77 Valtteri Bottas Alfa Romeo Ferrari 1'20.055 1.077 8 4 Lando Norris McLaren Mercedes 1'20.100 1.122 9 10 Pierre Gasly AlphaTauri Red Bull 1'20.142 1.164 10 3 Daniel Ricciardo McLaren Mercedes 1'20.203 1.225 11 63 George Russell Mercedes Mercedes 1'20.212 1.234 12 22 Yuki Tsunoda AlphaTauri Red Bull 1'20.424 1.446 13 44 Lewis Hamilton Mercedes Mercedes 1'20.521 1.543 14 18 Lance Stroll Aston Martin Mercedes 1'20.611 1.633 15 24 Zhou Guanyu Alfa Romeo Ferrari 1'21.063 2.085 16 20 Kevin Magnussen Haas Ferrari 1'21.191 2.213 17 23 Alexander Albon Williams Mercedes 1'21.912 2.934 18 47 Mick Schumacher Haas Ferrari 1'21.974 2.996 19 6 Nicholas Latifi Williams Mercedes 1'22.307 3.329 20 5 Sebastian Vettel Aston Martin Mercedes
What happened in Australian GP Free Practice 2?
Sainz led a 1-2 for Ferrari in the first part of FP2, setting the early pace with a time of 1m19.979s.
Sainz and Leclerc began trading the top spot on the timesheets after switching to soft tyres 20 minutes into the session, the Ferrari duo finding continuous improvements to stay clear of the chasing pack.
After the 40-minute mark, Leclerc gave a glimpse of the underlying pace of the F1-75, lapping the circuit in 1m18.978s to assert his authority at the top of the timesheets.
Verstappen managed to separate the two Ferraris on his next soft tyre run, but still ended up nearly a quarter of a second behind Leclerc after losing a chunk of time in the final sector.
The session had to be red flagged with just over 10 minutes left on the clock after Lance Stroll lost some bodywork from his Aston Martin after running over a kerb, but the track was soon cleared to allow all drivers to complete one final run.
In the end, Leclerc's previous time was not to be usurped, the Bahrain GP winner ending Friday practice comfortably on top ahead of reigning champion Verstappen and Ferrari teammate Sainz.
Alonso finished an impressive fourth in the Alpine, with Ocon backing up the performance of his teammate in sixth - behind the second Red Bull of Perez.
Mercedes failed to break inside the top 10, with Russell classified 11th and Hamilton finishing further behind in 13th.
Vettel spent the entire FP2 in the garage as Aston Martin crew worked on changing the Mercedes engine on the back of his car.
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