The 37th running of the Australian Grand Prix kicked off on Friday, March 22, with the first two Free Practice sessions taking place on the city streets of Melbourne, which has been hosting the Grand Prix since 1996 (with the exception of 2020 and 2021, when the race didn't run due to the Covid-19 pandemic).

Pirelli's C5 tyre - the softest of the five slick compounds available this year - will make its debut at the Australian Grand Prix: round three of the 2024 season.

Most teams tried out the soft compound in Free Practice 1 with McLaren's Lando Norris running the quickest time. Three time World Champion and 2022 Australian GP winner, Max Verstappen of Red Bull, was just 18 thousandths slower than the British native with a lap time of 1:18.582. Mercedes Racing's George Russell was 15 thousandths of a second slower than Verstappen.

Verstappen was also second quickest in FP2, bested by the SF-24 of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in the afternoon session.

"Today was a little bit messy because of what happened in FP1: we had some damage to the floor and chassis, which took a bit longer to fix meaning I had a bit of catch up to do," said Verstappen. "The turnaround was very quick and the team did a great job but we ended up losing a bit of running time in FP2. Normally I would have liked to have had a few more laps and I didn't manage to do many long runs but I think that the laps we did were good."

Aston Martin's Fernando Alonzo also suffered floor damage in FP1.

With 20 minutes remaining in FP1, Williams Racing's Alex Albon hit the Turn 8 wall hard with his FW46 coming to a halt in the middle of the circuit; bringing out a red flag.

"It was a tricky session in FP1 and I paid the price for it. I ran a little wide and went up onto the exit curb and bottomed out when I landed, so it's frustrating," said Albon, who was reported uninjured after the incident.

Albon did not participate in the afternoon session.

At the end of the practice sessions, Ferrari reported that: "Carlos Sainz is fully fit and did brilliantly to return to the cockpit just 14 days after undergoing an appendectomy, which meant he had to sit out the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Today, the Spaniard completed 48 laps, almost a race distance, without any physical problems."

Editor's Note: After publishing, William's Racing announced that Alex Albon's FW46 chassis was damaged beyond repair. Without a spare chassis, Albon will be using teammate's Logan Sargeant's chassis and Sargeant will sit out the remaining of the Australian Grand Prix.

FP2 Summary: Leclerc, Verstappen, Sainz, Stroll, Alonso, Russell, Piastri, Perez, Norris, Tsunoda, Zhou, Ricciardo, Sargeant, Bottas, Gasly, Hulkenberg, Ocon, Hamilton, Magnussen

FP1 Summary: Norris, Verstappen, Russell, Leclerc, Tsunoda, Perez, Stroll, Sainz, Hamilton, Piastri, Ricciardo, Albon, Magnussen, Sargeant, Ocon, Hulkenberg, Gasly, Alonso, Zhou, Bottas

Australian GP - FP2 Results

Pos	Driver		Team		Time		Gap

1	Leclerc		Ferrari		1:17.277	152.782 mph
2	Verstappen	Red Bull	1:17.658	0.381
3	Sainz		Ferrari		1:17.707	0.430
4	Stroll		Aston Martin	1:17.822	0.545
5	Alonso		Aston Martin	1:17.912	0.635
6	Russell		Mercedes	1:17.951	0.674
7	Piastri		McLaren		1:18.077	0.800
8	Perez		Red Bull	1:18.090	0.813
9	Norris		McLaren		1:18.155	0.878
10	Tsunoda		RB		1:18.188	0.911
11	Zhou		Stake		1:18.421	1.144
12	Ricciardo	RB		1:18.534	1.257
13	Sargeant	Williams	1:18.578	1.301
14	Bottas		Stake		1:18.585	1.308
15	Gasly		Alpine		1:18.691	1.414
16	Hulkenberg	Haas		1:18.702	1.425
17	Ocon		Alpine		1:18.705	1.428
18	Hamilton	Mercedes	1:18.834	1.557
19	Magnussen	Haas		1:19.275	1.998

Australian GP - FP1 Results

Pos	Driver		Team		Tyre	Time		Gap

1	Norris		McLaren		S	1:18.564	150.280 mph
2	Verstappen	Red Bull	S	1:18.582	0.018
3	Russell		Mercedes	S	1:18.597	0.033
4	Leclerc		Ferrari		S	1:18.599	0.035
5	Tsunoda		RB		S	1:18.621	0.057
6	Perez		Red Bull	S	1:18.642	0.078
7	Stroll		Aston Martin	S	1:18.667	0.103
8	Sainz		Ferrari		S	1:18.686	0.122
9	Hamilton	Mercedes	S	1:18.771	0.207
10	Piastri		McLaren		S	1:18.918	0.354
11	Ricciardo	RB		M	1:19.274	0.710
12	Albon		Williams	M	1:19.443	0.879
13	Magnussen	Haas		S	1:19.489	0.925
14	Sargeant	Williams	S	1:19.519	0.955
15	Ocon		Alpine		M	1:19.561	0.997
16	Hulkenberg	Haas		S	1:19.604	1.040
17	Gasly		Alpine		S	1:19.622	1.058
18	Alonso		Aston Martin	S	1:19.716	1.152
19	Zhou		Stake		S	1:19.989	1.425
20	Bottas		Stake		M	1:20.014	1.450

(image provided by Aston Martin F1 Media)