Australian GP: Albon suffers heavy crash as Ferrari's Leclerc registers fastest lap in practice

Charles Leclerc of Ferrari was the fastest driver in the second free practice at the Australian Grand Prix on Friday.

Meanwhile, Williams driver Alex Albon crashed his car in the first session near a turn at Albert Park.

Leclerc clinched the top spot with a lap of one minute, 17.277 seconds on soft tyres. He was 0.381 seconds quicker than Red Bull's defending world champion Max Verstappen.

The Dutchman, who is looking to win back-to-back races in Australia and a third triumph in a row this season, damaged the floor of his car in the first session which led to a delayed start in the second. His team mate Sergio Perez was eighth fastest during the practice.

McLaren driver Lando Norris was second with 1:18.564 in the first practice (FP1), which was stopped in the last 20 minutes after Albon's crash resulted in a red flag.

Albon had also wrecked his car at the same turn on race-day last year, which had also resulted in a red flag.

Fortunately, Albon was unharmed in the incident and apologised on the team radio. He was also forced to miss FP2 as his team worked on his car. Williams, who are without a backup chassis in Melbourne, could be a driver short for the rest of the race weekend if they are unable to get the car up and running.

Carlos Sainz registered the third fastest lap in FP2 after being eighth in FP1.

Mercedes struggled once again as seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton only the 18th fastest after being ninth quickest earlier after something went wrong with his care in FP2.

Russell came sixth in FP2 and third in FP1 as he was left frustrated by vibration in his steering rack.

"It didn't feel good out there today," said Hamilton.

"We made some big changes into FP2 and unfortunately, that made the car worse."

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