Four Things We Learnt: Melbourne F1 Practice

This weekend at Albert Park, the serenity of nature was replaced with the spine-tingling, breath-taking sounds of the Formula One World Championship.

Friday and Saturday gave the teams three one hour practice sessions, those that use the sessions effectively will have an opportunity to maximise their position after qualifying, and therefore the race. Here’s the four things we learnt from the sessions;

Oh No Ollie

Oliver Bearman’s start to life as a full time F1 driver has begun in ordinary fashion.  In both FP1 and FP3 the Englishman collected the barriers. His car didn’t grace the track in FP2, his mechanics were too busy trying to repair the damage sustained in FP1. 

His fastest lap across practice was a 1:19:312, some three seconds off those at the very top of the field, and leaves a lot to be desired for the new HAAS rookie. 

The Mercedes

The silver arrows have been hard to get a read on this year.  George Russell has stepped into the number one role vacated by Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile Kimi Antonelli has stepped into Hamilton’s car. 

Friday was challenging for the German manufacture, Antonelli is getting use to the speed of F1, so despite him having a good car, it is not unusual for a rookie to take time to get up to speed.  How much time he’ll be allowed, well that’s at the discretion of Toto Wolff. 

Russell’s fastest lap, meanwhile, was a 1:17:282, which was 0.840 slower than those at the top.  Needing to deliver on Saturday, he did improve on his Friday time by over 1.1 seconds. 

Antonelli also flew up the timing boards on Saturday, his 1:16:206 was good enough for 5th.  The Mercedes car seeming to enjoy the heat on a warm Saturday afternoon. 

The Home Town Duo

Plenty of rumours are surrounding Aussie Jack Doohan’s future at Alpine.  Franco Colapinto joined the team from Williams as a reserve driver for 2025. However, Alpine reportedly paid a large release clause to get the Argentine across to Enstone, and with Pierre Gasly is very safe at that team, the rumour mill began to spin around Doohan’s future. 

However, his 1:17:394 was good enough for 14th in FP2, but critically, he was ahead of Gasly as the session’s finish. 

Then there’s Oscar Piastri.  Fresh off a Constructor’s Championship with McLaren, the Aussie will be looking to add to his two wins from last year. If Oscar wins a Driver’s Championship this year, he would be the first since Alan Jones at the beginning of the 1980s to achieve such a feet, and only the third in history.

After a strong Friday, Piastri was fastest in FP3 on Saturday, his lap, a 1:15:921, was the only lap that cracked a sub 1:16 so far across the weekend. 

The Challengers

It appears that McLaren have the strongest race car, but there are plenty hunting them down.  Ferrari’s one lap pace is damaging.  Charles Leclerc, when he gets it right, is arguably the fastest qualifier in the grid.  Meanwhile, his teammate Lewis Hamilton, is arguably the greatest to ever drive an F1 car. 

The Ferrari has been there or there’s about this weekend, with Leclerc fastest in FP2, his 1:16:432 was just over 4 tenths faster then Hamilton. While on Saturday’s FP3, Leclerc was just under 3 tenths from Piastri, while Hamilton was a touch shy of half a second down.

Then there’s Max Verstappen, the four time defending champion is no doubt pacey, but does he have the car to do it?

Fifth and seven in FP1 and FP2, the challenge was set for qualifying day, then Verstappen did what Verstappen did best, and when he needed to deliver found a 1:16:646 in FP3, only to better that in the final 15 minutes by four tenths of a second to end up third.     

Verstappen’s teammate, Liam Lawson, failed to fire, as he adjusted to one of Formula One’s must sought after seat. His FP3 was ruined when his cars electronics stopped working early in the session, while on Friday, 16th and 17th place finishes will not cut it.

For Aussie Piastri, and his teammate Norris, having the fastest car might not be enough this weekend. There is as many as seven realistic options for the race win, the two Mercedes, Ferraris, Verstappen, and themselves.

All eyes will now turn to qualifying, which ahead of a wet Sunday, puts extra emphasis on the drivers to get it right.