Leclerc tops FP2: Is McLaren hiding its true pace for Sunday?

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc emerged as the pacesetter in Friday's second practice session for the Australian Grand Prix, topping the timesheets with a lap of 1m16.439s on soft tires.

The Monegasque driver led a surprising top three, with McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris following closely behind, separated by just 0.141s.

The session provided the first proper look at the 2025 Formula 1 pecking order.

Several teams struggled with the soft tire performance, creating what Ferrari's team principal later described as a "murky picture" of true competitive standing.

Ferrari finds pace in Melbourne

Ferrari appears to have made a significant step forward compared to pre-season testing.

Leclerc was quickest on both medium and soft compound tires, suggesting genuine pace from the SF-25.

His teammate Lewis Hamilton finished fifth, four tenths off the pace, with the seven-time world champion admitting he was "missing a bit of pace, but that's expected" as he continues to adjust to his new team.

The gap between the Ferrari teammates offered the first direct comparison between Hamilton and Leclerc, revealing a distinctive difference in driving styles.

While Hamilton braked later and harder, Leclerc adopted an earlier braking approach but maintained higher minimum speeds through corners, consistently gaining small advantages throughout the lap.

McLaren confirms strong form

McLaren confirmed its strong pre-season form with Piastri and Norris placing second and third respectively, separated by a mere 0.017s.

The MCL39 looked particularly impressive on track, with strong front-end grip allowing both drivers to rotate the car well and get on the power early.

Trackside observers noted the MCL39's balanced handling characteristics, with the only minor error coming when Norris briefly touched the gravel exiting Turn 12.

The team's long-run pace also appeared particularly strong, reinforcing predictions that McLaren could be the package to beat in Sunday's race.

Red Bull struggles continue

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen experienced a difficult session, continuing Red Bull's challenging start to the 2025 campaign.

The Dutchman aborted his first qualifying simulation after going deep at Turn 1 and sliding at Turn 3, eventually salvaging seventh place with a late improvement.

"The grip wasn't great and we were struggling on all four tires, particularly in sector one and in the final sector," Verstappen explained.

"It feels like we are not up there at the moment but we will work to find more pace. There are no major balance issues, so I think this makes things a bit harder to fix."

His teammate Liam Lawson had an even more difficult day, finishing only 17th fastest and describing himself as "comfortable, just too slow."

Mercedes faces single-lap issues

Mercedes struggled to match the pace shown in Bahrain testing.

George Russell had a scruffy session that included dropping a wheel on the grass entering Turn 4 and locking up into the penultimate corner.

Rookie teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli ended the day four tenths slower than Russell.

Mercedes trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin acknowledged:

"We've got some work to do on improving our single-lap performance on the soft compound ahead of qualifying."

"We've already got some areas of focus though and are confident we can take steps to do that overnight."

Race Simulation Analysis

The long-run data gathered in the final part of FP2 provides crucial insights into potential race pace.

Analyzing the lap times from the race simulations reveals McLaren as having a decisive edge in this crucial area.

Norris demonstrated the most consistent and fastest long-run pace, with his average lap time falling below the 22-second range multiple times.

His teammate Piastri showed similar consistency, though marginally slower across equivalent stints.

Ferrari's race pace appears competitive but slightly behind McLaren.

Leclerc's times fluctuated more than the McLaren drivers, with some very quick laps mixed with occasional slower ones, suggesting the SF-25 might be more challenging to manage over a race distance.

Red Bull's Verstappen showed flashes of competitive pace during his race simulation but lacked the consistency of McLaren.

Several of his laps matched Norris's times, but he couldn't maintain this performance throughout the stint.

Mercedes appears to have stronger race pace than their qualifying simulation suggested, with Russell in particular showing competitive long-run performance before his late excursion into the Turn 13 escape road.

The midfield battle featured a surprising Racing Bulls team, with both Tsunoda and Hadjar finishing in the top six.

Williams, despite showing promise in FP1, couldn't maintain that form during the soft tire runs but did look strong during the race simulations.

With qualifying set for Saturday, teams will now focus on extracting maximum one-lap performance, particularly those who struggled with the soft compound.

However, McLaren's impressive pace both over one lap and on the long runs makes them the team to beat heading into the weekend.