Charles Leclerc ensured Ferrari completed a Friday double as he led second practice at the Australian Grand Prix.
The Monegasque would be the only driver to go sub-1m19s around the revised Albert Park as the drivers completed intriguing soft tyre runs mid-session.
Max Verstappen prevented another Scuderia 1-2 in second for Red Bull, but it was a tricky hour for the Dutchman who needed multiple attempts to get a clean lap.
As has been the trait in the opening races, the top two teams are achieving their lap times in different ways with Ferrari holding an advantage in the corners while Red Bull are flying on the straights.
FP1 pacesetter Carlos Sainz was third, ahead of Fernando Alonso in fourth as Alpine showed impressive pace with Esteban Ocon sixth behind Sergio Perez.
Solid Friday practice ?
?? P4, Fernando, 1:19.537
?? P6, Esteban, 1:19.842#AusGP pic.twitter.com/W9OVc5hM2h— BWT Alpine F1 Team (@AlpineF1Team) April 8, 2022
Valtteri Bottas survived a trip across the grass at Turn 1 in P7, with the two McLarens maintaining their improved performances in eighth for Lando Norris and P10 for Daniel Ricciardo.
Pierre Gasly would be the man to split the papaya machines in P9 for AlphaTauri.
Notably absent from the top 10 were Mercedes with George Russell 11th and Lewis Hamilton, who had a small off at Turn 12, 13th.
More worrying was the two Silver Arrows finding themselves 1.2s and 1.5s off the leading pace respectively.
A tricky #FP2 in cooling conditions, to wrap up Friday at the #AusGP – work to do, so we’ll dig into the data tonight ? pic.twitter.com/KNnSwsYcPe
— Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team (@MercedesAMGF1) April 8, 2022
Aston Martin, Haas and Williams once again filled six of the bottom seven places, with Alfa’s Zhou Guanyu the only exception in 15th.
Sebastian Vettel would not get on track at all as the team fixed the engine issue that saw him stop on track in FP1.
Full results from FP2 can be seen below:
Charles Leclerc fastest in FP2! ?#AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/db3RxThndz
— Formula 1 (@F1) April 8, 2022