Lando Norris fastest in first Australian Grand Prix practice Ferrari s Lewis Hamilton 12th

MELBOURNE - Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc powered to the quickest time ahead of Oscar Piastri in second practice at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix on March 14, with Lewis Hamilton fifth and Max Verstappen only seventh.

Leclerc outshone new team-mate Hamilton with a best lap round Melbourne’s Albert Park circuit of one minute 16.439 seconds on soft tyres, 0.124 clear of McLaren’s Piastri.

Monaco’s Leclerc set the pace with 25 minutes to go and no-one could catch him, with the other McLaren of Lando Norris third ahead of surprise-package Yuki Tsunoda in an RB.

“It’s too early to come to any conclusions,” said Leclerc.

“We will only get a first idea of the respective pace of all the teams in qualifying.

“All in all it was a good day and we look forward to tomorrow, when we want to target pole position.”

Seven-time world champion Hamilton was fifth as he gradually adjusts to life in a new car after his shock move to Ferrari from Mercedes after 12 years.

The Briton cautioned this week that everything at Scuderia was different and there could be a transition period while he settles in.

He was better than in first practice, where he came 12th, but still 0.420 seconds behind his team-mate.

“We were not completely satisfied with FP1 but we made some good progress in FP2 and got some solid longer runs in, which was important,” said Hamilton.

Rookie Isack Hadjar came sixth in the second RB ahead of world champion Verstappen, who clocked 10 laps fewer than Leclerc as he pitted for fine-tuning.

Verstappen is chasing a second win in Australia after his 2023 victory to kickstart his bid for a fifth consecutive world title, a feat only Michael Schumacher has achieved.

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“Today, the grip wasn’t great and we were