Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff has admitted that an experiment with different set-ups on the cars of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell had backfired on them in Friday's practice sessions in Melbourne.
Coming off back-to-back wins to open the 2024 season, Max Verstappen was in the odd position of being on the back foot in Melbourne in friday after finishing more than three tenths off the pace of Ferrari rival Charles Leclerc.
Charles Leclerc set the pace for Ferrari in Friday’s second practice in Melbourne, the Scuderia driver edging Red Bull’s Max Verstappen by a 0.381s while Carlos Sainz completed the top three.
Alex Albon’s heavy crash in Friday’s opening practice in Melbourne left the Williams with a heavy workload on its hands that has ruled out the Anglo-Thai racer for FP2.