Aussies Oscar Piastri, Jack Doohan impress, Red Bull ‘lacks fight’ in F1 practice

The two Aussies on the grid showed promising signs, but all was not well with Max Verstappen and Red Bull in F1 Grand Prix practice.

A strong opening day of the 2025 F1 season saw both Australians on the grid showing promising signs, but reigning champion Max Verstappen and his team were well off the pace.

Top local hope Oscar Piastri ran second in the second practice, pipping McLaren teammate Lando Norris and behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, the trio looking the most likely winners of a tight field.

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However rain is almost certain on race day, following a 36-degree scorcher on Saturday for qualifying, meaning teams will have to sacrifice their car set ups – either preparing for the heat and getting into qualifying trim, or adding downforce for a colder and wetter Sunday.

Norris had run fastest in FP1 using a pacier rear wing, showing how quick the McLaren can be, before both he and Piastri used a rear wing with more downforce in FP2 to prepare better for the race conditions.

Oscar Piastri, Max Verstappen and Jack Doohan.

“The pace was pretty solid, still a few things to try and iron out and make the car feel a little nicer, but the underlying pace seems strong,” Piastri said.

“Pretty happy with the day’s work, but I think it’s gonna be pretty different for the next two days (with the weather), so how much today means we don’t know. But it feels pretty good.”

Norris was strangely negative, declaring: “(It felt) so-so. It’s been a good start to the weekend, we’ve got a good baseline, but not happy, not confident with the car in terms of finding the best balance and being consistent enough. Especially on low fuel.

“High fuel I felt good but low fuel, similar to Bahrain, too many inconsistencies, too many problems, so a bit of a struggle.”

Aussie rookie Jack Doohan, who’s arguably under more pressure than any driver on the grid with the well-regarded and well-funded reserve driver Franco Colapinto looming over him at Alpine, showed great signs beating veteran teammate Pierre Gasly in both sessions.

Lando Norris wasn’t thrilled with his performance on Friday. Picture: David Caird

However the Queenslander explained the pair weren’t exactly comparable in terms of their run plans.

“We’re constantly trying things across both cars, so who’s faster than who, it’s really not a priority at the moment,” Doohan said.

“We’re both testing, trying to maximise our package for tomorrow. Pierre’s super comfortable in this car so we’re not really focusing so much on our lap time, just on really building our balance and making sure that we’re in a good place for tomorrow.

“It’s a constant day of learning. The cars ran well both sessions, we were able to maximise our running with the conditions that we got and we’ll continue discussing what we can do for tomorrow morning.

“A few little tweaks hopefully in FP3 to set ourselves in a good position for quali.”

Jack Doohan showed some good pace for Alpine. (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

The Racing Bulls of Yuki Tsunoda and Isack Hadjar both made the top six in FP2, while the Williams of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon both made the top six in FP1, showing promise amid predictions of a very tight midfield.

“We lost performance relative to our rivals on the soft tyre … I don’t think we’ve gotten everything out of it. It doesn’t feel right,” Albon said.

“If it was a mediums qualifying session, I think we’d be quite comfortably in Q3.”

Sainz added: “If we manage to unlock some potential on soft tyres, we could be competitive.

“But the field is extremely tight – I saw the VCARBs doing some very fast laps also, a bit out of nowhere.

“Everyone seems honestly that if they put together a good lap, anyone can be in Q3.”

But the signs weren’t as good at Red Bull, with Verstappen only seventh in FP2 behind rookie Hadjar and just ahead of backmarker Nico Hulkenberg, and first-time teammate Liam Lawson well off the pace.

“(I felt) comfortable, just too slow. We obviously have a lot of work to do overnight,” Lawson conceded.

“Day 1 on a new track, we’re expecting to have some work to do, but probably not this much.”

Asked what the problem was, he said: “In general just grip, when we need to use it on that short run, but in general our long run pace was slow as well.”

Verstappen wasn’t confident there was an overnight fix to get him back up the order.

Max Verstappen says his team has plenty of work to do. (Photo by Paul Crock / AFP)

“The problem is that it’s not really like I have major balance problems, so it’ll be a bit hard to fix, but it’s also nothing that I didn’t expect when I arrived here. I’m not positively or negatively surprised with the pace that we are showing,” he said.

“We’ve never really been that good here since that new tarmac update, so it’s not really helping, but still it’s the same for everyone.

“We just need to find a bit more pace but for now we’re definitely lacking a bit to fight up front.”

Lawson’s fellow rookie Kimi Antonelli was nowhere near the contenders while George Russell was solid for Mercedes, flagging similar concerns over the softs to other drivers.

His ex-teammate Lewis Hamilton, running for Ferrari for the first time, looked a few tenths slower than FP2 leader Leclerc as he gets acclimatised to the new machinery.

Practice 3 begins at 12.30pm AEDT on Saturday before qualifying from 4pm AEDT.

Originally published as Aussies Oscar Piastri, Jack Doohan impress, Red Bull ‘lacks fight’ in F1 practice