The 2025 champion, Lando Norris, had a complicated Friday of free practice for the Formula 1 Australian GP, facing mechanical problems that limited his participation in the first session at the Albert Park circuit. The Briton completed only seven laps due to a transmission control failure on the McLaren MCL40.
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“It was a difficult first day, but it’s good to be back in the car at the start of a new season,” Norris stated. “We didn’t manage to run as much as we wanted in the morning due to reliability issues, so we are a bit behind in terms of learning. With these new rules, track time is very important, so we have work to do tonight to catch up,” he said.
After the problem was fixed, Norris had a more consistent performance in the second session, completing 29 laps and finishing just one second off the pace of teammate Oscar Piastri, who led FP2 with 1:19.729s. Between the two McLarens were Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), and Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing).
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Rob Marshall, McLaren’s technical director and head of design, assessed the day as positive despite the setbacks: “In FP1, we investigated an issue on Lando’s car, which confirmed a transmission control failure, resolved before the next session. FP2 ran more smoothly, with the drivers finding more consistency and acquiring valuable data in different types of simulation, including for qualifying,” he added.
Marshall reinforced that the team would still work overnight to improve car setup, tires, and power unit management: “With limited time before the qualifying session, everyone is still refining their approach. We saw improvements from FP1 to FP2, and we hope to be in the mix tomorrow, as precision will be more important than ever, and it will be crucial to execute the preparation perfectly with the expected traffic,” he concluded.
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