Leclerc sets the pace in Melbourne as Ferrari continue to impress

Ferrari's promising start to the Formula One season continued on Friday as they dominated free practice at the Australian Grand Prix. However, there was more bad news for struggling Mercedes at a revamped Albert Park.

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc topped the timesheets with a lap of one minute, 18.978 in second free practice after being second to team-mate Carlos Sainz in the first.

However, Red Bull showed they will be competitive this weekend with world champion Max Verstappen splitting the Ferraris in the second session, 0.245 seconds behind Leclerc.

There were some concerns for Ferrari, with both Leclerc and Sainz wrestling with their cars bouncing, or 'porpoising', down the new run of shallow corners where drivers hit high speed heading into turns nine and 10 at Albert Park.

That will be a major issue for Mercedes, with their new-look W13 car battling this season following major aerodynamic rule changes.

After disappointing results in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, they remained well off the pace on Friday with George Russell 11th quickest in the second session, more than 1.2 seconds adrift of Leclerc. Seven-times world champion Lewis Hamilton was 13th fastest and had a skid into gravel.

It is early days in the season, but a title tussle between Leclerc and Verstappen is forming nicely.

This is the most iconic end to a practice session we can remember