2026 Australian GP Practice Summary — FP1, FP2 & FP3
Complete practice breakdown from Albert Park — session-by-session results, FP2 long-run analysis, team pace evolution across Friday and Saturday, and what the data predicted for qualifying and race day.
Three practice sessions at Albert Park, three very different stories. Ferrari ran the show on Friday. By Saturday morning, Mercedes had taken over completely. How did the narrative flip so fast? Let's break down every session and see what the data actually told us heading into qualifying and race day.
Circuit Profile
Albert Park Circuit
Melbourne, Australia
Circuit Demands
FP1: Ferrari Looking Ominous
Free Practice 1 — Best Lap Times
| Pos | Driver | Team | Best Lap | Gap | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LEC | Ferrari | 1:20.267 | LEADER | FIN |
| 2 | HAM | Ferrari | 1:20.736 | +0.469 | FIN |
| 3 | VER | Red Bull | 1:20.789 | +0.522 | FIN |
| 4 | HAD | Red Bull | 1:21.087 | +0.820 | FIN |
| 5 | LIN | Racing Bulls | 1:21.313 | +1.046 | FIN |
| 6 | PIA | McLaren | 1:21.342 | +1.075 | FIN |
| 7 | RUS | Mercedes | 1:21.371 | +1.104 | FIN |
| 8 | ANT | Mercedes | 1:21.376 | +1.109 | FIN |
| 9 | BOR | Audi | 1:21.696 | +1.429 | FIN |
| 10 | HUL | Audi | 1:21.969 | +1.702 | FIN |
So what actually happened in FP1?
- Ferrari locked out the top two. Leclerc topped the session comfortably, with Hamilton half a second behind in P2. The SF-26 looked immediately planted through Albert Park's fast sequences.
- Red Bull looked quick too. Verstappen P3, Hadjar P4, both cars running competitive programs. Verstappen's median long-run pace on mediums (1:22.307) was actually the fastest FP1 long run of any driver.
- Where were Mercedes? Russell and Antonelli buried down in P7-P8, a full second off the pace. But here's the thing about FP1 at Albert Park: the track evolves dramatically from Friday to Saturday. It's notoriously unrepresentative.
- Norris in P19. Not even close to representative. McLaren often sandbagged FP1 in 2025, and the pattern continued here.
FP2: The Long Runs Tell the Real Story
Free Practice 2 — Best Lap Times
| Pos | Driver | Team | Best Lap | Gap | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PIA | McLaren | 1:19.729 | LEADER | FIN |
| 2 | ANT | Mercedes | 1:19.943 | +0.214 | FIN |
| 3 | RUS | Mercedes | 1:20.049 | +0.320 | FIN |
| 4 | HAM | Ferrari | 1:20.050 | +0.321 | FIN |
| 5 | LEC | Ferrari | 1:20.291 | +0.562 | FIN |
| 6 | VER | Red Bull | 1:20.366 | +0.637 | FIN |
| 7 | NOR | McLaren | 1:20.794 | +1.065 | FIN |
| 8 | LIN | Racing Bulls | 1:20.922 | +1.193 | FIN |
| 9 | HAD | Red Bull | 1:20.941 | +1.212 | FIN |
| 10 | OCO | Haas | 1:21.179 | +1.450 | FIN |
Piastri topped the single-lap times, but that's not what matters in FP2. This is the session where teams load up fuel and run long stints. If you want to predict race pace, this is where you look.
FP2 Long-Run Analysis
FP2 Long-Run Stint Pace
What the long runs actually revealed:
-
Hamilton's first stint looked sensational on paper. His opening hard run clocked a median pace of 1:21.129, seemingly the fastest of the session. The catch? He was almost certainly running lighter fuel than everyone else's initial stints, which makes a direct comparison misleading.
-
Russell's consistency was the real story. Over an 11-lap hard stint, he posted a median of 1:23.507 with degradation of just -0.020s/lap. That's essentially flat. Near-zero degradation on hard tyres is one of the strongest race-pace signals you can find.
-
Norris chose softs for his long run. An unusual choice, and it makes apples-to-apples comparison tricky. His median of 1:23.495 on softs suggests McLaren's hard-tyre pace would be slower, which is exactly what played out on Sunday.
-
Hadjar's mediums told two stories. A strong early stint (1:21.702 median) gave way to a more representative later stint (1:24.617). That first number was likely flattered by fuel burn-off as the car got lighter.
FP3: Everything Changes
Free Practice 3 — Best Lap Times
| Pos | Driver | Team | Best Lap | Gap | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | RUS | Mercedes | 1:19.053 | LEADER | FIN |
| 2 | HAM | Ferrari | 1:19.669 | +0.616 | FIN |
| 3 | LEC | Ferrari | 1:19.827 | +0.774 | FIN |
| 4 | PIA | McLaren | 1:20.087 | +1.034 | FIN |
| 5 | HAD | Red Bull | 1:20.137 | +1.084 | FIN |
| 6 | VER | Red Bull | 1:20.197 | +1.144 | FIN |
| 7 | ANT | Mercedes | 1:20.324 | +1.271 | FIN |
| 8 | NOR | McLaren | 1:20.443 | +1.390 | FIN |
| 9 | BOR | Audi | 1:20.459 | +1.406 | FIN |
| 10 | BEA | Haas | 1:20.778 | +1.725 | FIN |
Remember that Mercedes car that looked lost in FP1? P7, a full second off the pace?
Russell put down a 1:19.053. Six tenths clear of everyone. The W17 went from looking ordinary to looking like the fastest car on the grid by a significant margin. Something clicked in the overnight setup work, and this was the first real warning sign of what was coming in qualifying.
The one question mark was Antonelli in P7. Was he holding back, or had Russell found something his teammate hadn't quite unlocked? Qualifying answered that pretty conclusively when Antonelli slotted into P2, just 0.293 off Russell's pole time.
Team Pace Evolution Across the Weekend
FP3 Qualifying Simulation Pace — Gap to Fastest
Watch how the order shifted session by session:
| Team | FP1 | FP2 | FP3 | Qualifying |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mercedes | P7 | P2 | P1 | P1 |
| Ferrari | P1 | P4 | P2 | P4 |
| Red Bull | P3 | P6 | P5 | P3* |
| McLaren | P6 | P1 | P4 | P5 |
| Racing Bulls | P5 | P8 | P11 | P8 |
| Audi | P9 | P12 | P9 | P10 |
*Red Bull qualifying best via Hadjar only (Verstappen incident in Q1)
The trend jumps off the page: Mercedes gained over 2 seconds relative to the field from Friday to Saturday. Ferrari moved in the opposite direction, fastest in FP1 but sliding backward as the weekend wore on. That trajectory pointed straight at Mercedes having the better qualifying setup, and it was confirmed spectacularly when Russell took pole by 0.785 seconds.
What Practice Predicted Correctly (and Where It Missed)
Nailed It
- Mercedes qualifying dominance. FP3 had Russell 0.6s clear. In qualifying, he was 0.8s clear. The direction was spot-on.
- Ferrari as best of the rest. They showed consistent P2-P4 pace across all sessions. Qualified P4-P7, raced to P3-P4.
- Audi in the lower midfield. Bortoleto hovered around P9-P10 all weekend. He finished the race in P9.
- Cadillac bringing up the rear. Perez and Bottas were the slowest pairing in every single session.
Didn't See That Coming
- Piastri topped FP2 on single-lap pace. He didn't even finish the race. Single-lap FP2 times might be the least useful metric in all of practice.
- Norris went from P19 in FP1 to P6 in qualifying. A perfect reminder that FP1 running programs are basically fiction for several teams.
- Verstappen looked competitive all through practice (P3 FP1, P6 FP2, P6 FP3). Then a qualifying incident sent him to P20. No amount of practice data can predict that.
- FP2 long-run hierarchy vs actual race pace. The general direction was right (Mercedes and Ferrari at the top), but the absolute gaps didn't translate cleanly. Practice long runs with variable fuel loads remain an imperfect race-pace predictor. They're a compass, not a GPS.
Takeaways for Predicting Round 2
- Mercedes are the team to beat. Their qualifying and race pace at Albert Park was real. Expect them at the sharp end next round too.
- Ferrari's race pace is better than their grid slots suggest. They had the fastest race median but qualified P4-P7. For your race predictions, bump them up from where they qualify.
- Red Bull's car has speed, but questions linger. Verstappen's fastest lap (1:22.091) was quicker than anyone else's, but Hadjar's DNF and Verstappen's qualifying crash raise reliability concerns.
- McLaren need to find race pace. Piastri's FP2-topping single-lap speed didn't carry over. Norris finished P5 but was 51 seconds behind the winner. Higher degradation is their biggest weakness right now.
- FP3 remains your best qualifying crystal ball. Russell's FP3 dominance translated directly to pole. Always weight FP3 qualifying simulations most heavily.
Practice told us Mercedes would be strong and Ferrari would have race pace. It didn't warn us about first-lap chaos or Verstappen's qualifying disaster, but no data can predict those things. Use practice to set your baseline, then adjust for the unknowns.
Ready to put these insights to work? Start predicting the next round on Podium Prophets.