“In today’s Formula 1, not having a replacement chassis is unacceptable, but it reflects the deficit we were in over the winter and highlights why we need to make significant changes to put ourselves in a better position for the future.” said team boss James Vowles. “As a result, we had some very difficult decisions to make this afternoon.”
The much more experienced Albon, who had lost control of his car exiting turn six in the opening practice session and crashed into the track wall, was now given preference over the 22-year-old American Sargeant. “This is the most difficult moment I can remember in my career,” admitted Sargeant, who is contesting his second Formula 1 season.
APA/AFP/Martin Keep Small accident, big impact: Williams will only be at the start with one car in Melbourne after Alexander Albon’s crash
Albon explained: “I have to be completely honest and say that no driver wants to give up their place. I would never want something like that to happen.” At the same time, the 83-time Grand Prix starter praised Sargeant for his character. “Logan has been a total professional and a team player from day one and it will not be easy for him to accept that,” said Albon, who can now take part in the final training and qualifying on Saturday and the race on Sunday – assuming he does no longer causes serious accidents.
Best time for Ferrari driver Leclerc
In the competition, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc got in the mood for the Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne with the best time of the day in training. In the second session, the Monegasque drove 0.381 seconds faster than world champion Max Verstappen in the Red Bull. Third was Leclerc’s teammate Carlos Sainz (+0.430). There should no longer be any doubts about the fitness of the Spaniard, who was forced to watch in Saudi Arabia because of an appendectomy.
APA/AFP/Martin Keep Charles Leclerc showed on Friday that Ferrari is competitive in Melbourne
In the first training session, Lando Norris set the fastest time in the McLaren. The Brit relegated Verstappen and Mercedes man George Russell to second and third place. The time gaps were extremely small: Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez, for example, was in sixth place, only 0.078 seconds slower than the leading man.
The negative thing for Verstappen was that he ruined his undercarriage when he landed on the curbs and therefore had to reduce his planned program. “We had some damage to the floor and chassis, which took a little longer to repair. That meant I had to catch up a bit,” he said. “The team did a great job, but in the end we lost a little time in FP2. Normally I would have liked to do a few more laps and I couldn’t do many long runs. But I think the laps we did were good.”
Formula 1
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Mercedes is experimenting
Mercedes also had problems in the second training session. The team carried out more or less large-scale experiments with the set-up in order to obtain information about the driving behavior. Russell coped better with his set-up and ended up in sixth place, while Lewis Hamilton finished 18th.
“It didn’t feel good out there today,” Hamilton said. “We made some big changes before FP2, which unfortunately made the car worse.” Team boss Toto Wolff said: “That backfired massively.”
World champion Verstappen will be aiming for his tenth win in a row across all seasons on Sunday (5:00 a.m. CET). If the Dutchman also finishes in first place in Australia, he would have equaled his own record from last season.
Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne
Second free practice: 1. Charles Leclerc MON Ferrari 1:17.277 2. Max Verstappen NED Red Bull + 0.381 3. Carlos Sainz ESP Ferrari 0.430 4. Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin 0.545 5. Fernando Alonso ESP Aston Martin 0.635 6. George Russell GBR Mercedes 0.674 7. Oscar Piastri AUS McLaren 0.800 8. Sergio Perez MEX Red Bull 0.813 9. Lando Norris GBR McLaren 0.878 10. Yuki Tsunoda JPN RB 0.911 11. Zhou Guanyu CHN Kick Sauber 1.144 12. Daniel Ricciardo AUS RB 1.257 13. Logan Sargeant USA Williams 1.301 14. Valtteri Bottas Fin Kick clean 1.308 15. Pierre Gasly Fra Alpine 1,414 16. Nico Hülkenberg Ger Haas 1.425 17. Esteban Ocon Fra Alpine 1,428 18. Lewis Hamilton GbR Mercedes 1.557 19. Kevin Magnussen Den Haas 1.98 20. THA Williams no time First Free Practice: 1. Lando Norris GBR McLaren 1:18.564 2. Max Verstappen NED Red Bull + 0.018 3. George Russell GBR Mercedes 0.033 4. Charles Leclerc MON Ferrari 0.035 5. Yuki Tsunoda JPN RB 0.057 6. Sergio Perez MEX Red Bull 0.078 7. Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin 0.103 8. Carlos Sainz ESP Ferrari 0.122 9. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes 0.207 10. Oscar Piastri AUS McLaren 0.354 11. Daniel Ricciardo AUS RB 0.710 12. Alexander Albon THA Williams 0.879 13. Kevin Magnussen DEN Haas 0.925 14. Logan Sargeant USA Williams 0.955 15. Esteban Ocon FRA Alpine 0.997 16. Nico Hülkenberg GER Haas 1.040 17. Pierre Gasly FRA Alpine 1.058 18. Fernando Alonso ESP Aston Martin 1.152 19. Zhou Guanyu CHN Kick Sauber 1.425 20 .Valtteri Bottas FIN Kick Clean 1,450
