Charles Leclerc heads Max Verstappen in second practice, Lewis Hamilton 18th

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc set the pace from Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in second practice at the F1 Australian Grand Prix.

Leclerc was 0.381 seconds faster than the reigning world champion, who did not enjoy the smoothest of sessions and missed the opening 25 minutes of running while Red Bull fixed damage to his floor.

• 2024 F1 Australian Grand Prix - Free Practice Results

Having been consigned to his garage for the first half of FP2, Verstappen completed two qualifying simulation runs on the soft tyre but could not get close to Leclerc’s eye-catching benchmark.

Carlos Sainz, returning to F1 action after recovering from surgery to remove his appendix which ruled him out of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, was third-quickest and 0.430 secs off the pace.

The Aston Martin pair of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso were fourth and fifth, ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, who was 0.674s adrift in sixth.

Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton endured a difficult FP2 and ended up with the second slowest time in 18th, some 1.5s off the pace after struggling with rear instability in his W15.

The seven-time world champion also picked up damage to his car after a wide moment and complained his car was not working properly, reporting something “is wrong”.

Oscar Piastri was seventh fastest, ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and McLaren teammate Lando Norris, who had topped opening practice.

Yuki Tsunoda completed the top-10 in his RB.

Just 19 runners took part in FP2 with Alex Albon ruled out after badly damaging his Williams in a crash during the opening session.

Williams are still assessing the extent of the damage to his FW46 but do not have a spare chassis and could be down to just a single car for the rest of the Melbourne weekend.