F1: Ferrari's Leclerc puts Hamilton in the shade in Australian GP practice

Charles Leclerc dominates Australian GP practice, Verstappen struggles, Norris impresses, and rain could shake up Sunday's race.

Charles Leclerc left new Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton trailing in his wake in free practice at the season-opening Australian Formula One Grand Prix on Friday (March 14, 2025) as defending champion Max Verstappen struggled with the Red Bull car.

Third quickest in the first practice session (FP1), Leclerc topped the timesheet in the second (FP2) at Albert Park with a lap of one minute, 16.439 seconds on soft tyres, 0.124 better than McLaren's Oscar Piastri.

Piastri's teammate Lando Norris ran third in FP2 while seven-times world champion Hamilton was fifth, an improvement on his 12th ranking in the first session (FP1), but more than four-tenths of a second slower than Leclerc.

The soft tyre times could have little relevance for Sunday's race if the forecast for rain proves accurate.

The Red Bull car's performance was nonetheless a concern for Verstappen as he struggled with his setup.

He was fifth in FP1 and unable to post a fast lap on soft tyres in FP2, finishing seventh quickest on the medium set.

"Somehow the grip was not coming alive and just struggling on all four tyres, really, in sector one and the last sector," Verstappen told Sky. "The problem is that it’s not really like I have major balance problems, so I think it will be a bit hard to fix."