Australian GP 2026 FP1 & FP2 Round-Up: Ferrari Lead Early as Piastri Tops Friday

The 2026 season didn’t ease itself in. Friday at Albert Park quickly became about more than lap times. Ferrari led a 1-2 in FP1 as Charles Leclerc produced a late fastest lap to beat Lewis Hamilton, with reliability issues and incidents spreading across the field from the opening minutes. Lando Norris lasted just seven laps before a gearbox issue ended his FP1 early. Aston Martin barely made it out of the garage. Cadillac lost wing mirrors from both cars on debut. And by the time FP2 wrapped, it was Oscar Piastri who ended the day on top, giving the home crowd exactly what they came to see. One day in, and the 2026 era has already made its presence felt.

Key Points – F1 Australian Grand Prix Practice

• Ferrari led a 1-2 in FP1 with Leclerc fastest and Hamilton second, both ahead of Verstappen on the C5 Soft
• Norris completed just seven laps in FP1 after a gearbox issue, raising early reliability concerns for the defending champion
• Piastri topped FP2 on 1:19.729, nearly two tenths clear of Antonelli with Russell third
• Verstappen went off into the gravel at speed in FP2, damaging his floor and cutting his running short
• Aston Martin barely featured across either session, Alonso missing FP1 entirely with a Honda PU issue and Stroll limited to a handful of slow laps
• Rookie Arvid Lindblad impressed across both sessions, finishing inside the top eight in FP2 on his first full day as an F1 driver
• Williams lost both drivers to reliability issues across the day, Albon in FP1 with hydraulics and Sainz in FP2 with an unspecified car problem
• Cadillac marked their F1 debut with wing mirrors off both cars and Perez unable to run in FP2 until the final minutes due to a sensor fault

FP1 – Ferrari Draw First Blood as the 2026 Era Begins

New cars. New engines. New rules. Within ten minutes, the paddock already had its first talking points.

Hülkenberg led the queue out of the pit lane as the field streamed onto Albert Park for the first time under the new regulations. Most arrived on Mediums. The surface was clean. The field was eager. The talking points arrived before the lap times even mattered.

Piastri was the first problem. Power loss reported early, a brief yellow flag, a trip to the garage for checks. He returned. The issue didn’t come back. But the mood around McLaren shifted quickly.

Norris never got going at all.

Downshift problems flagged early. Then all gear changes reported as wrong. Seven laps. Back to the garage. Session over. The defending World Champion sat watching FP1 from the pit wall while the new 2026 era unfolded without him. McLaren confirmed precautionary gearbox checks. The full picture was still unclear.

While McLaren managed damage, the front of the session had its own story.

Verstappen set the early tone on Mediums. A 1:22.920 inside the first ten minutes. Hadjar slotted in behind in his first session as a full-time Red Bull driver. Hamilton split the Red Bulls briefly. Then Leclerc moved ahead with 1:22.322 and the two of them began trading fastest laps as the track rubbered in.

Lindblad added to the early chaos. Stalled at the pit exit. VSC deployed. The Racing Bulls crew pushed the 18-year-old back to the garage. He returned. And then quietly went about putting in one of the sessions of the afternoon.

Alonso never left the garage. Honda engine trouble before FP1 even started. Stroll managed three slow laps before Aston Martin pulled him in. A brutal opening hour for a team already under pressure heading into the new regulations cycle.

Cadillac marked their F1 debut by losing wing mirrors from both cars. Not the start Cadillac had in mind.

As the session reached its midpoint, Leclerc sat on 1:21.227 with Verstappen 0.176 behind. The Softs hadn’t arrived yet. The order was already meaningful.

Russell was first to switch to C5s, moving to fifth. Others followed. Verstappen bolted them on and jumped to 1:20.908 then 1:20.789 as the late push phase opened up.

Leclerc answered. 1:20.829. Verstappen took it back briefly. Hamilton then moved to 1:20.736 in the closing stages.

Then Leclerc fired his final lap with 45 seconds left on the clock.

1:20.267. Nearly half a second clear of Hamilton. Ferrari 1-2. Verstappen third, 0.522 back.

Hadjar fourth on debut. Composed, one big lock-up aside, and nearly three tenths off his four-time champion team-mate. Lindblad fifth. An 18-year-old, on his first day in a session that included a VSC and a garage visit, finishing inside the top five. Piastri recovered to sixth despite the early power scare. Russell seventh. Antonelli eighth. Bortoleto and Hülkenberg completed the top ten for Audi.

Albon stopped late at Turn 10 with a suspected hydraulic issue. A second VSC. Williams losing valuable data as the session closed.

The 2026 era started with Ferrari in front while McLaren searched for answers.

FP1 Final Classification

Between Sessions – Reliability, Reset and a Long List of Questions

McLaren worked on Norris’s gearbox. Williams assessed Albon’s hydraulics. Aston Martin tried to find a path back onto the track for Alonso. Cadillac hunted for a sensor fault on Perez’s car that had kept him grounded.

The teams that had run cleanly spent the gap studying their data. Mercedes showed little in FP1, holding back enough to know the real picture was better than the timesheet suggested. Ferrari had shown enough to know the car worked. Red Bull had pace but questions over the rear. McLaren had lost their championship leader for the session and needed answers fast.

Pirelli’s allocation for Melbourne is C2, C4 and C5. Most teams ran Mediums and Softs in FP1. The Hard had barely been touched. FP2 would start to tell the long-run story ahead of Sunday.

The afternoon session had a lot of questions to answer. Whether the cars would hold together long enough to answer them was another matter entirely.

FP2 – Piastri Tops the Day as Chaos Continues

Hülkenberg out early again for Audi. Norris straight out too, having sat through most of FP1 in the garage. The gearbox issue that ended his morning apparently resolved. He had ground to make up and everyone knew it.

The incidents arrived almost immediately.

Verstappen ground to a halt in the pit lane before completing a timed lap. Red Bull mechanics pushed him back. Colapinto appeared to get stuck in neutral on the pit straight, staying on the racing line as Hamilton arrived at speed on a hot lap. A very close miss. Russell and Lindblad then made contact in the pit lane, the pair disagreeing over who had priority. Russell needed a new front wing. Stewards noted both incidents for post-session investigation.

Alonso finally made it out for Aston Martin. Straight onto the Soft compound. A small positive after a day that had given his team almost nothing to work with.

Perez remained in the Cadillac garage while the team chased a sensor fault. Bottas circulated alone, gathering what data he could.

Russell was first to set a proper benchmark on Softs, a 1:20.049. Piastri second on the Hards, six tenths back. Antonelli third. Hamilton fourth. The order shifting almost every lap as the field cycled through their run plans.

Then Antonelli went top. A tenth clear of Russell. Hamilton third. The Mercedes pair showing far more than they had in FP1.

Verstappen eventually made it out and put himself sixth on his first Soft push lap. Then he got it wrong.

A high-speed snap of oversteer through a fast corner. Straight through the gravel at speed. The team later confirmed floor damage. Verstappen came straight back in. His FP2 effectively over at that point, the team choosing not to risk further damage ahead of qualifying.

Sainz pulled up in FP2 with a car issue, Williams confirming he would take no further part in the session. Ten laps on Mediums, no Soft-tyre data. Williams lost a second driver in the afternoon after Albon’s hydraulic issue in FP1. A damaging Friday for the Grove outfit.

Perez eventually made it out in the closing stages after the sensor issue was fixed. A few laps. Not enough to matter.

As the session entered its final phase, Piastri went to the top.

1:19.729. Clean, controlled, and in front of his home crowd.

Antonelli second, two tenths back. Russell third. Hamilton fourth. Leclerc fifth. Verstappen sixth with limited running. Norris seventh, still rebuilding after the FP1 loss. Lindblad eighth. An 18-year-old finishing inside the top eight across both sessions on his first day. The kind of debut that gets noticed.

Hadjar ninth. Ocon tenth for Haas.

The chequered flag fell on a Friday that delivered the kind of chaos expected from a brand-new regulations cycle.

FP2 Final Classification

Coffee Corner Take

These cars are not easy. Turning them up in race conditions, in front of a crowd for the first time, creates a very specific kind of pressure. Not every team handled it well.

Ferrari handled it best. Leclerc was composed throughout FP1, used his Soft tyres at exactly the right moment, and sealed fastest time with 45 seconds left on the clock. Hamilton looked genuinely comfortable in the Ferrari, which is worth noting. Jolyon Palmer’s comment mid-session didn’t feel like flattery. It felt accurate. Hamilton in a car that responds to him, at a circuit he knows inside out, looks like a real contender. The Ferrari looks quick on one lap and the balance appears stable. That matters when the whole field is still guessing.

McLaren’s Friday was damage limitation. Norris lost FP1 entirely to a gearbox issue, then spent FP2 rebuilding. He finished seventh in the afternoon, which is something, but he is behind on data and mileage. Piastri topped FP2, which softened the impact of the morning issues, but the team will want to understand the gearbox failure before Saturday. Starting a new regulations era with a reliability question mark over your championship leader is not ideal.

Red Bull sit in a complicated position. Verstappen had the speed but damaged his floor going off in FP2. His afternoon was cut short before the long-run programme was complete. Hadjar impressed on debut, which adds an interesting internal dynamic, but the bigger concern is Sunday. Limited long-run data on a damaged car heading into qualifying weekend is a problem they didn’t need.

Mercedes were the session’s slow reveal. They showed little in FP1, then Antonelli and Russell both produced strong pace in FP2. The chatter all week was about Russell as a title contender. Friday didn’t contradict that. Mercedes looked settled, predictable, and like a team that understood their new car quickly. That combination is dangerous.

Aston Martin’s situation is serious. Alonso missed FP1 entirely. Stroll barely turned a wheel. One day into the new era and they are already chasing the field for data. If the Honda PU issues continue into Saturday, they are looking at a very long weekend.

Lindblad’s day deserves its own mention. VSC on his debut. Pit lane incident under investigation. Still finished inside the top eight across both sessions. Calm, tidy and quick. Racing Bulls have found something in him.

The 2026 era has one day on the clock. The reliability picture will sharpen quickly from here. And Saturday suddenly matters a lot more.