Piastri headlines action-packed Friday at Albert Park

Oscar Piastri led the headlines on the second day of the FORMULA 1 QATAR AIRWAYS AUSTRALIAN GRAND PRIX 2026 weekend at Albert Park on Friday. The Melbourne driver was the star of the second practice session.

He topped the times by 0.2 seconds, marking himself as one of the drivers to watch when qualifying starts on Saturday. Local fans watched as Piastri topped two Mercedes-AMG drivers.

Kimi Antonelli led pre-season favorite George Russell for the Silver Arrows. The Ferraris took fourth and fifth places, with Lewis Hamilton just 0.001s off Russell.

Charles Leclerc followed a further 0.241s adrift. While the leading teams looked strong, the time sheets did not tell the whole story of the day.

Max Verstappen was just 0.637s off the ultimate pace. However, the Dutch star lost the chance for a late run when his Red Bull speared off the road at Turn 10.

The incident damaged his underfloor and ended his day prematurely. There was significant optimism at the Audi Revolut F1 Team.

Both Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hülkenberg showed well in the first practice session. Meanwhile, the Cadillac Formula 1 Team performed admirably on Day 1 of General Motors’ journey.

The cars ran mostly reliably in the presence of 1979 World Champion Mario Andretti. Away from Formula 1®, there was plenty of action in the support categories.

In FIA Formula 2™ qualifying, Dino Beganovic waited until the final lap to take pole. He narrowly beat Rodin Motorsport drivers Martinius Stenshorne and Alexander Dunne.

In FIA Formula 3™ qualifying, Théophile Nael led a Campos Racing 1-2 ahead of Ugo Ugochukwu. Supercars provided plenty of "elbows out" racing throughout the afternoon.

Fords remained the cars to beat, with Brodie Kostecki taking the win for Dick Johnson Racing. Points leader Matt Payne followed in second for Grove Racing.

The biggest smiles were found at Walkinshaw TWG Racing. Ryan Wood secured the first-ever Supercars podium for Toyota, driving his GR Supra to third.

The day concluded with a hard-fought Porsche Carrera Cup race. Frenchman Marcus Amand claimed victory after a late pass on current champion Dylan O’Keeffe.