Piastri overcomes power issues to set fastest time in FP2

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FRIDAY RECAP

Formula One is back for 2026, and Melbourne has put on a show for the first competitive outings for the cars.

And local fans will certainly be walking away from Albert Park happy with Aussie Oscar Piastri setting the fastest time in the second free practice session after encountering power issues earlier in the day.

He wasn't the only driver who impressed with Racing Bulls' rookie Arvid Lindblad managing to finish in the top 10 in both sessions in his first ever F1 race day.

See all the key moments below.

Piastri tops the timesheet

And with his time of 1:19.729, Oscar Piastri has set the fastest time in FP2.

The Australian was over two tenths of a second quicker that Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli.

Considering the power issues he faced during FP1, it's a great performance by Piastri who'll be hoping to translate that form into Saturday.

Mercedes will also be pleased with their showing on Friday with their drivers placing second and third respectively.

They have been followed by the two Ferrari's with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc rounding out the top five.

FP2 Top 10

1. Oscar Piastri
2. Kimi Antonelli
3. George Russell
4. Lewis Hamiliton
5. Charles Leclerc
6. Max Verstappen
7. Lando Norris
8. Arvid Lindblad
9. Isack Hadjar
10. Esteban Ocon

Perez off the track

With five minutes left in the session, Sergio Perez will be unable to set a time during FP2.

The Mexican driver who joined F1's newest team in Cadilliac was sighted pulling over the car at Turn 11 having reported an issue with the car.

That has prompted the virtual safety car to be activated.

Piastri takes the lead off Antonelli

And just like that, Oscar Piastri has hit the front with a time of 1:19.729.

Just like his previous lap, the Aussie went purple in the first sector which set him up to beat the Antonelli's time by over two tenths of a second.

It's certainly a positive sign for McLaren heading into the weekend.

Top 10 in FP2 (20 minutes left to go)

1. Piastri
2. Antonelli
3. Russell
4. Hamiltion
5. Leclerc
6. Verstappen
7. Lindblad
8. Hadjar
9. Ocon
10. Bearman

Piastri with a strong lap to open FP2

After some issues in FP1, Oscar Piastri has hit the Albert Park track with some speed to lead the early stages of FP2.

The Australian has set a time of 1:20.638 having set the fastest sector 1 time during his lap to do so.

He's now been overtaken by Mercedes' George Russell with 40 minutes left in the session.

McLaren disaster 2.0

Piastri is back on track but it's gone from bad to worse for the papaya engineers with Lando Norris out of FP1 and the team are changing his gearbox out.

"Lando is out of the session, he is out" Kravitz told Sky F1. "Gear box problem, they have had it in the session but McLaren have decided as a precautionary measures they will replace the gearbox and not compromise the next session.

Most of the race prep happens in FP2, the car is on stands in the garage. Might not be the end of the world but he's the first person in the big four out."

Virtual Safety car has had it's first calling of the season with Albon stopped on track.

So at the end of the first session in Melbourne, Piastri has managed to finished sixth fastest (1:21:342) a full second behind the Ferraris.

Charles Leclerc topped the time sheets with a 1:20:267, teammate Lewis Hamilton was second, five tenths behind.

Verstappen and Hadjar were third and fourth and props to F1's only rookie for this season Lindblad who was fifth fastest!

Top 10:

1. Leclerc
2. Hamilton
3. Verstappen
4. Hadjar
5. Lindblad
6. Piastri
7. Russell
8. Antonelli
9. Bortoleto
10. Hulkenberg

Mixed bag for the Aussies in F3 Qualifying

While most people at Albert Park are there to watch the F1 cars, there are plenty of support catergories for fans to watch.

One of those is the F3 which acts as a feeder series into Formula 1 with some of the world's best junior drivers competing.

There are currently two Australian drivers racing around in the F3 catergory in Patrick Heuzenroeder and James Wharton.

Having just had their qualifying ahead of their sprint race tomorrow, Wharton performed rather well having finished 8th out of 30th cars with a time of 1:34.621.

While Heuzenroeder claimed 24th with his fastest lap being 1:35.056.

Power issues for Piastri and others

Just the one lap for Oscar Piastri before he was on the radio saying he had power issues with his McLaren in the first practice session at Albert Park,

The Australian driver has been pushed back into the pits for the team to assess what is going on.

He is not alone, teammate Lando Norris is also reporting issues with downshifts and saying "something doesn't feel right with the car".

Fernando Alonso is not taking part in FP1 in another blow to what is becoming a comical start to Aston Martin's season while Lindblad stopped about 50m over the start line.

"Software glitch that looks to be OK and Linblad is something similar," Ted Kravitz said on Sky F1 regarding Piastri's issues.

In the Aston Martin garage, engineers are attempting to form a human wall to shield the cameras from seeing anything - it's not working, mechanics are underneath Alonso's car working on the latest disaster.

Race starts changed

The new cars and regulations have brought with them an issue for how races get started forcing F1 race director Rui Marquez to issue a last-minute change for Melbourne which could cause more chaos than normal.

Because of changes to the power units, there were concerns at testing in Bahrain about how cars would react to the lights out start and “how quickly the turbo could spin up” (delayed acceleration).

According to racing news, drivers now have to maintain revs for at least five seconds to ensure there is no lag.

The modifications to the cars mean under the current five lights out start system there could be carnage and or multiple position changes before the first corner meaning a fix was needed.

So, in Melbourne we will see a “pre-start” blue light come on for five seconds allowing drivers to build up the revs. This will be followed by the traditional start light procedure.

The situation is less than ideal and drivers are unimpressed.

"I think it's just very random at the moment, and I think we're all kind of learning what makes a good start, what makes a bad start," McLaren’s Oscar Piastri said. "There are some pretty big pitfalls, you can find if you get yourself in trouble.

"But even just managing the power and the procedure is kind of one thing, but also just the way we do starts is much more difficult than last year. It's trickier from every single angle. And I think what we're seeing at the moment is people just getting things right and other people getting them very wrong.

"So, I think certainly at the first few races, we could see some starts that look a bit like what we have this week. But I think we'll start to converge hopefully pretty quickly if you're on the bad side of that."

"The 10-second thing, and then after five seconds I already lost the count and then the engine's revving up, gear in and out, and you need to release the clutch. It's quite a mess. It was much easier last year,” Gabriel Bortoleto told ESPN.

Although limited, data currently suggests that the starts will favour Ferrari and Cadillac have handled them well.

"To win a race, you've also got to get off the line quite well," George Russell said.

"And I think the two starts I've made this week were worse than my worst ever start in Formula 1.

"And, Lewis, down in P11, got into P1. So, at this stage, I don't think it matters how quick you are (in qualifying).

"I think what's going to trip you up, it's always going to be that tallest hurdle. And that's what we're trying to get our heads around right now, and we're stumbling on some at the moment."

Aston Martin are in all sorts

It’s an absolute sh-t show in the garage. Despite having Adrian Newey – the greatest mind in F1 – on their book, s the team have already conceded they won’t finish the race in Melbourne because of the risk the car will cause permanent damage to their drivers.

Anyone hoping to see them in practice and qualifying may well be disappointed too with extreme vibrations rattling through the car’s chassis the major issue.

“That vibration is transmitted ultimately into the driver’s fingers,” Newey said.

“Fernando (Alonso) is of the feeling that he cannot do more than 25 laps consecutively before he will risk permanent nerve damage to his hands. Lance (Stroll) is of the opinion that he cannot do more than 15 laps before that threshold.

“I think there is no point in not being open and honest in this meeting.

“We are going to have to be very heavily restricted on how many laps we do in the race until we get on top of the source of the vibration and improve the vibration at source.”

Bahrain and Saudi races likely to be canned

Amid the growing conflict in the Middle East, there will be a decision sooner rather than later about whether F1 will travel there next month.

With cargo and travel arrangement set weeks and months in advance, F2 is due to leave Melbourne for Bahrain at the end of this weekend – their movements could be telling.

While the only official word out of the governing body so far is that they are “closely monitoring the situation like this and work closely with relevant authorities and will always prioritise the safety and security of all those in the sport” a decision will have to be made by the time we race in China.

The risk of travelling to a war zone is too great even if there is a ceasefire in place.