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Max Verstappen led from George Russell and Charles Leclerc during Free Practice 2 for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver jumped back into the car, having given it up to Liam Lawson during FP1 due to the rules regarding running rookie drivers during the year. Verstappen was straight on the pace, setting a lap time that was 0.341 seconds quicker than Russell and a further 0.453s faster than Leclerc. The Ferrari driver set the early pace from Esteban Ocon and Russell on the Mediums, with Lewis Hamilton also looking set to join the top three after going fastest in FP1. But a block from Kevin Magnussen on his initial run meant Hamilton only had one attempt on the Mediums, which was only good enough for seventh quickest initially. He later improved to fourth fastest , having switched to the Soft tyre, ahead of Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz. Viewed by others: ...

Charles Leclerc and Robert Shwartzman topped the timesheets in the first half of running at the Abu Dhabi post-season test, whilst there were technical issues on Oscar Piastri's first outing in the McLaren MCL36. With all drivers running 2023 Pirelli tyres, the Monegasque driver set benchmark of 1:25.383, almost seven tenths of a second faster than his junior teammate, who was driving the second Ferrari earmarked for a 'rookie' driver. Fernando Alonso's first Aston Martin outing began positively, with the Spanish driver setting the third fastest time, ahead of Red Bull's Sergio Perez, who was the busiest driver of the session, clocking over 80 laps. Both drivers finished just under one second off the pace. Pierre Gasly is currently fifth-fastest in his first session for Alpine, ahead of regular race drivers Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) and Lando Norris (McLaren). Aston Martin junior Felipe Drugovich, Williams' Alex Albon and Red Bull rookie driver Li...

Max Verstappen set the fastest time in first practice for the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, comfortably ahead of Lewis Hamilton. The World Champion immediately hit the Albert Park track on the Soft compound Pirelli tyres, initially posting a 1m:21.272s on his opening lap. but complained of gear-shift and braking problems in the early stages. Verstappen eventually whittled his time down to a 1m:18.790s to eclipse the fastest time from FP1 in 2022, a 1m:19.806s, ending up 0.433s clear of Hamilton. Sergio Perez was third in the second Red Bull, with McLaren's home rookie Oscar Piastri in 12th. The session was briefly red-flagged with about 20 minutes remaining of the hour's running due to a glitch with the GPS system, meaning teams were unable to inform drivers of approaching traffic, causing near misses at high speed. Logan Sargeant later stopping curtailed the session with four minutes remaining after his Williams ground to a halt. Viewed by others: ...