Perfecting Skills: A Friday Focus on Practice

Formula 1

The 2025 Formula 1 season officially commenced on Friday, showcasing the championship’s initial two practice sessions of the year. Fans were excited to witness Lewis Hamilton don the iconic red of Ferrari for the very first time in person.

However, it was his teammate Charles Leclerc who clocked the fastest time of the day, achieving a Practice 2 lap of 1:16.439. Hometown hero Oscar Piastri finished second in the session, a mere tenth of a second behind, with Lando Norris completing the top three, just two hundredths off Piastri.

In the earlier session, Norris led the way on the timesheets, finishing ahead of new Williams driver Carlos Sainz by one and a half tenths, while Leclerc came in third, closely followed by Piastri.

Making his debut at the Australian Grand Prix, Jack Doohan showed promising speed throughout both practice sessions, posting the 13th fastest time in Practice 1 and 14th in Practice 2, surpassing teammate Pierre Gasly on both occasions.

The opening weekend of the 2025 Formula 1 season saw its first incident as Haas’ Ollie Bearman lost control midway through the session and crashed into the wall, necessitating the deployment of the red flag.

Sadly, the young driver did not partake in the second session as the Haas team worked diligently to prepare his car for Practice 3 scheduled for tomorrow.

Formula 2

Gabriel Mini will kick off his first-ever F2 race from pole position after achieving a blistering lap time in the qualifying session held on Friday afternoon.

The Italian narrowly edged out Victor Martins by just over a tenth of a second, with J. Crawford securing the third spot, a further two-tenths behind the French racer.

Mini’s pole position represented a remarkable improvement from the earlier practice, as he gained five seconds between the two sessions, with Martins setting the pace in Practice 2.

Formula 3

Rafael Camara had a stellar debut day in Formula 3, topping the timesheets in Practice 1 before clinching pole position during the qualifying session.

The Brazilian led a Trident front-row lockout in the session, finishing just over a tenth of a second ahead of teammate Noah Strømsted.

The duo were in a league of their own, with the next fastest driver from Van Amersfoort Racing, Théophile Naël, nearly half a second behind Strømsted.

Aussie James Wharton officially started his first full season in the FIA Formula 3, qualifying in 22nd place, almost two seconds behind Camara.

Wharton and the rest of the competitors will be back on track for the Sprint Race at 11:15 a.m.

Supercars

Cameron Hill’s remarkable weekend at the Australian Grand Prix continued on Friday as the Matt Stone Racing driver led the Queensland-based team to its inaugural one-two finish.

Following his best qualifying performance and first podium in Thursday’s opening race of the round, the Canberra native improved his performance today by overtaking polesitter Broc Feeney on the opening lap and maintaining his lead for the 19-lap race.

With teammate Nick Percat behind him throughout the race, defending his position fiercely, it was a flawless day for Hill, marking his place as the 87th race winner in the Australian Touring Cars Championship/Supercars.

Completing the top three was reigning champion Will Brown, who advanced from fifth place, passing Andrew Heimgartner on the first lap and overtaking Feeney midway through the race.

Supercars will hold two qualifying sessions on Saturday morning, setting the stage for the third race of the weekend in the afternoon.

Carrera Cup

After an exhilarating opening race on Thursday, the one-make series put on another thrilling display as Jackson Walls claimed his fifth win in the category.

The victory came after reigning champion Harri Jones went off track following a late restart, with Bayley Hall and Marcos Flack finishing behind him in second and third, respectively.

In Pro-Am, Rodney Jane took the race win after Sam Shahin was forced to retire due to contact. Jane’s victory extended his lead in the Pro-Am standings.

Brett Boulton finished strongly in second, continuing his solid form in the series, while Dean Cook rounded out the Pro-Am podium in third. The race was marred by incidents as both Matt Slavin and Caleb Sumich failed to finish due to accidents and mechanical difficulties.

Only one race remains for the category, with the final race of the weekend scheduled for Saturday evening.