A replay of Liam Lawson's opening attempt on the softs sees the New Zealander dip a wheel on to the gravel and kick up some dust. Fellow rookie Kimi Antonelli is trying to climb up the timesheets but a few wide moments by the Italian means he can only jump to ninth.

One driver who does vault up the order is Yuki Tsunoda. The Racing Bulls man joins Charles Leclerc in the 1:16s, but he could be chased down now as the big hitters are coming out to play...

Many people have cited McLaren as favourites going into the 2025 season but what does CEO Zak Brown think? He has been discussing Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri's chances of winning the drivers' championship this season with Karthi Gnanasegaram on Radio 4's Today programme.

George Russell's team-mate Kimi Antonelli, the McLaren of Lando Norris and Liam Lawson in the Red Bull are also among the drivers heading out for a soft run.

Image source, Getty Images

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Melbourne

Charles Leclerc in particular is looking very, very fast.

This lap is much better from Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari man is still on those medium tyres and after a speedy attempt around the unforgiving Albert Park, drops us down in to the 1:16s.

An encouraging all round period for the Italian team, as Lewis Hamilton makes it a one-two at the top of the timesheets on the same compound. The gap between the new team-mates is four tenths.

Over at Mercedes, George Russell is bolting on the soft rubber.

1. Carlos Sainz (Williams) - 1:17.302

2. George Russell (Mercedes) +0.001

3. Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.107

4. Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.173

5. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.193

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

It will have felt like a massive blow to Carlos Sainz when it was announced Lewis Hamilton would replace him at Ferrari. He exited that team with pure class. I wonder if this Williams seat will end up being a much stronger proposition than we first thought.

Nico Hulkenberg puts the tyres on his Sauber through the mill with a rough trip across the gravel. The German is down in 18th place, with new team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto two spots above.

Charles Leclerc is on a quick lap on the medium compound and while his opening two sectors are tidy, his final push is slightly scrappy and he aborts his attempt. The Monegasque also flags Liam Lawson in his Red Bull was blocking his path.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Melbourne

He's not a happy bunny, is he, Lewis Hamilton. Understeer is something that Hamilton really doesn't like and he's been complaining about it all day. By the way, Charles Leclerc doesn't like understeer either. They both drive the car very similarly - attacking, on the brakes, they don't mind a loose rear end.

It's only the second practice session of the first race weekend, but is this a sign Carlos Sainz and Williams are going to be the good match for each other? The Spaniard is a medium runner and beats George Russell's time by just 0.001 seconds. The new marker to aim for is 1:17.302.

George Russell has banked a 1:17.565 on the hard compound to jump above the McLaren of Lando Norris on the leaderboard. Yuki Tsunoda is next to push Norris down the order, slipping in to second behind Russell, but on the medium tyre.

Image source, Reuters

Liam Lawson is coming out of the pit lane to enter the track. Just one problem, however, Lando Norris is preparing his exit with a practice start at the time. The McLaren takes to the grass to get by the New Zealander, but Red Bull think it was the Briton was at fault for the little moment between the pair.

Norris has brushed off that incident and has gone top of the timesheets on the mediums with a 1:17.671.

Andrew Benson
BBC F1 correspondent in Melbourne

Ferrari and the McLaren appear to have an edge over the Red Bull and Mercedes, at least from the earlier running.

Marc Priestley
Former F1 mechanic on BBC Radio 5 Sports Extra

It's certainly not the start to Oliver Bearman's full-time Formula 1 career that he was looking for. On a circuit like this, in particular the first weekend of a new season, you are looking to gradually build confidence together with your lap time. He'll have to gather himself, reset and go again.

The tyres for this year's Australian Grand Prix are exactly the same as last season: soft, soft, soft.

Teams and drivers can choose from the C3 (white, hard), C4 (yellow, medium) and C5 (red, soft). If the rain does arrive on Sunday, the green intermediates and blue full wets are also on hand.

Meanwhile, the Haas mechanics are still hard at work on Ollie Bearman's car, so the teenager will have to take a seat in the garage for the time being.

Of we go again.

Click the 'listen live' tab at the top of this page to tune in to full second practice commentary.

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BBC Radio 5 Live F1 commentator Harry Benjamin has been in Melbourne for a few days already and has picked out five things to look out for this weekend, including the rookies to watch and the Norris v Piastri dynamic.

Image source, Getty Images

There are a fresh batch of rookies for 2025 - six in total, although you could say Red Bull's Liam Lawson is straddling the line slightly between newbie and returning driver - and it was Isack Hadjar for Racing Bulls who finished on top in first practice.

The 20-year-old Frenchman was running in third place at one point but settled for ninth on the timesheets at the conclusion of his debut session in Melbourne.

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The unwanted award for first crash of the season goes to 19-year-old rookie Oliver Bearman, who suffered a big shunt in the opening hour when he lost control in Turn 10 and spun into the wall.

Bearman signalled he was OK following the second red-flag incident - the first was for gravel on track at the exit of Turn Six - but the right side of his Haas was heavily impacted.

Image source, Getty Images

The first practice session of the 2025 season was topped by Lando Norris and McLaren at Albert Park with a quickest overall time of 1:17.252 on the soft compound.

Second on the timesheets was Spaniard Carlos Sainz driving his new shade of Williams blue followed by his former red Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Lewis Hamilton's opening stint for the Scuderia left him struggling to turn the car and he ended his hour 12th on the board, sixth tenths behind Leclerc.