Charles Leclerc leads Ferrari 1-2 in first practice of new 2026 cars in Australia
Updated: Aug 27
Charles Leclerc heads a Ferrari one-two in the first practice session of the new regulations in Australia ahead of Max Verstappen in a brilliant taster of the new regulations.
Leclerc looked mightily fast throughout the session as he traded fastest laps with Verstappen before asserting setting a 1:20:267 to topping the timing sheet.
The new regulations had a good first outing and have brought much sportier looking cars compared to their predecessors, and driving looks more direct and visually entertaining. The cars are less rigid and the drivers are able to demonstrate their skills more as they work with oversteer and make their cars dance.
Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton was just over four tenths behind but also set the timings alight as he briefly went top – suggesting that the more nimble generation of cars is more to his liking.
Verstappen was five tenths behind Leclerc, and looked on top of his Red Bull following an adjustment to the rear axle.
Isack Hadjar impressed in his first outing for Red Bull after being promoted from sister team RB as he was just three tenths shy of Verstappen. A brief lapse of concentration due to traffic did see the Frenchman suffer a big lock up and successive rally-driving out of turn one.
RB’s Arvid Lindblad made his debut in an competitive session and impressively reached fifth after an commanding lap introduced himself to the top level of motorsport, after initially recovering from his car clonking out on his first attempt to leave the pit lane.
McLaren suffered a difficult start to the session as both drivers faced issues with electronics, with World Champion Lando Norris taking an early exit with a gearbox problem.
Home hero Oscar Piastri meanwhile took the breath of the Australian crowd when he briefly lost power at the start, before going on to reach sixth.
Mercedes failed to make the frightening statement to 2026 they had been hyped up to achieve as the George Russell and Kimi Antonelli only managed seventh and eighth, respectively, and were over a second behind the top time.
An early soft tyre run for Russell looked to send him to the top but the red-ringed compound didn’t provide the expected results, a trend seen across the times.
Audi had a good first session after their takeover of Sauber last season, as Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg, who was first on track, headed the midfield by taking the final two positions in the top ten.
Haas’ Esteban Ocon finished in eleventh ahead of Carlos Sainz, who showcased the new cars’ ability to be caught in oversteer when pushing his Williams into turn twelve.
RB’s Liam Lawson finished in thirteenth ahead of Haas’ Ollie Bearman around the Albert Park track.
Alex Albon set a time good enough for fifteenth but stopped his Williams on track after an electrical fault which unveiled new yellow warning lights for this season.
Many drivers experienced lock ups to varying degrees – Franco Colapinto having a moment at turn three as he kicked up a cloud of gravel before finishing sixteenth.
Newcomer Cadillac reflected initial predictions by being competent but towards the bottom of the timings, but notably both Valterri Bottas (seventeenth) and Sergio Perez (twentieth) losing a mirror each. Perez also fell victim to a surge in engine breaking which saw him spin dramatically at turn four.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and the retired Norris split the two Cadillacs.
Aston Martin’s 2026 struggles continued into first practice as Fernando Alonso had to sit out of the session and engineers formed a human wall to hide fixes.
Teammate Lance Stroll only completed a few laps but didn’t set any competitive lap times following a downbeat press conference from team principal Adrian Newey yesterday.
Teams now have time to reassess ahead of second practice in a few hours.
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