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Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc led Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in Friday practice at the Australian Grand Prix.
Leclerc was 0.381 seconds faster than the man who has dominated the first two races on a difficult day for Red Bull.
Verstappen missed the first 20 minutes after damaging his floor in an off-track incident in the first session.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was third, from Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin and George Russell’s Mercedes.
After a strong day, Leclerc said he felt Ferrari might have their “best shot” of challenging Red Bull so far this season.
Lewis Hamilton in the second Mercedes was 18th fastest, struggling for pace on both qualifying-style runs and race simulations. He said over the radio that “something’s wrong”.
After the session, he said: “I don’t feel great. One of the worst sessions I’ve had for a long time. In P1, it felt quite good. The car in P1 run one felt the best it’s ever felt and then it got worse and worse. We made some big changes into P2 and it was tough.
“After that session, I feel the least confident I have ever felt with this car but there are positives from the P1 run we did.”
Team principal Toto Wolff said it had been “not a good day”.
Red Bull not as strong as usual
Red Bull were not their usual imperious selves. Verstappen ran later than his rivals because of the enforced delay to his programme, and should have had the better of the track conditions when he set his fastest lap.
But he was not able to match Leclerc’s pace, set earlier in the session, and his high-fuel run was not especially strong either, although affected by traffic and only three laps long.
Verstappen said: “A little bit messy because I went wide in P1 and damaged the floor and the chassis so it took a little bit longer to fix that so I lost like 20 minutes. But the turnaround was very quick so I more or less completed the programme.
“It was alright, Ferrari is quick but there are a few more things we can fine-tune. Nothing crazy, nothing worrying, just need to fine-tune the car.”
As in the first session, a number of drivers had off-track moments, especially through the high speed chicane at Turns 10 and 11.
None, though, crashed, unlike in the first session when Williams driver Alex Albon lost control on the exit of Turn Six and smashed into the wall at Turn Eight, which follows shortly afterwards.
Albon missed the second session, and the team have since announced Albon will compete in team-mate Logan Sargeant’s car across the weekend as his chassis is too damaged to fix and a spare was not brought to Melbourne.
Team principal James Vowles said it was “unacceptable” not to have a spare chassis but it was “a reflection of how behind” they were during the winter as they try to restructure the team.
Are Mercedes in trouble?
Mercedes appeared to be struggling. Both drivers had a number of ‘moments’ through the day, Russell catching the car when he lost the rear in Turn Nine in the first session and then having a grassy moment through Turn One in the second. And Hamilton ran wide in Turn 10 in the second.
Russell, though, felt he would have been third fastest had he put together his final lap of the session.
“On my last lap I was 0.2-0.3secs up. I came out of 12 and damaged my front wing and went off the track in the last two corners, so I think we would have been probably P3 in that session but we have had always quite strong P1 and P2 showings, this soft tyre there is so much potential there but it is difficult to get the sweet spot.”
Russell predicted that Pirelli’s decision to bring its three softest tyre compounds to Australia would lead to a race that was challenging for tyre wear.
Ferrari looking strong
Ferrari, by contrast, looked fast on single laps or longer runs, an encouraging start to the weekend for the Italian team.
Sainz, who is returning after missing the last race because of an operation to remove his appendix, managed well, but was nearly 0.5secs off his team-mate. He said after the session that he would be fine to continue for the rest of the weekend.
McLaren’s Lando Norris, first in the opening session but only ninth in the second, predicted that one of the two Ferraris would be on pole position.
Leclerc said: “It feels good for now. We had a positive day. It’s a good start but we need to keep working very hard because I’m sure we will see some surprises tomorrow and there is no reason for us to be a bit in front compared to everyone else tomorrow as well.
“I would say we are in a better position than the first two races. However, Red Bull weren’t pushing yet. We’ve got to wait and see where their potential is at. I think they are still ahead but we may have our best shot since the beginning of the season.”
