How Australian Grand Prix practice unfolded

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Will Alex Albon be able to take part in third practice and qualifying tomorrow? You better get up really early with us to find out.

The final hour of practice starts at 01:30 GMT, while the fight for pole position in Melbourne gets under way at the slightly kinder time (well, not really) of 05:00 GMT.

Enjoy you all of Friday! See you on Saturday.

BBC SportCopyright: BBC Sport

As we prepare for round three, BBC F1 correspondent Andrew Benson has been answering your questions.

In this week's post bag, you wanted to know things like:

• If the competition for race wins fails to materialise for the rest of the field, what else do we have to look forward to this season?
• What are the reasons behind Mercedes not being able to compete with the top teams?
• What was behind the dramatic change in Honda engines from way off the pace to winners with Red Bull?

Have a read of Andrew's answers here

Then get your thinking caps on and send us your questions - anything F1-related - via the link here

11. Zhou Guanyu (Sauber)

12. Daniel Ricciardo (RB)

13. Logan Sargeant (Williams)

14. Valtteri Bottas (Sauber)

15. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)

16. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)

17. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)

18. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes)

19. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)

20. Alex Albon (Williams)

1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) - 1:17.277

2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)

3. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari)

4. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)

5. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)

6. George Russell (Mercedes)

7. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)

8. Sergio Perez (Red Bull)

9. Lando Norris (McLaren)

10. Yuki Tsunoda (RB)

Max Verstappen, winner of the first two races this season, finish the session in second. Leclerc's returning team-mate Carlos Sainz is third and the Aston Martins of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso are fourth and fifth respectively.

Every team better double check the floors of these delicate Formula 1 cars, because the grass and gravel has been visited on more than one occasion during the two practice sessions.

Lance Stroll is the latest driver to take a bumpy trip over the green, green grass of the Melbourne circuit in his Aston Martin.

The Ferrari pit wall should be receiving a call right about now from Charles Leclerc, as the 26-year-old has just sent his car onto the grass and into the gravel at Turn One.

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton is asking what times the other drivers are doing? When told the results, the seven-time world champion replies he thinks there is something wrong with the car.

1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) - 1:17.277

2. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.381

3. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +0.430

4. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +0.545

5. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +0.635

The next phase of the run plans are taking place as drivers swap the soft tyres and switch back to the medium compound for some race simulations.

The soft tyres are working hard on the Red Bull of Max Verstappen. The three-time world champion improves slightly on his previous time, but it still isn't enough to dethrone Charles Leclerc. Verstappen is now 0.381 seconds off the Ferrari man's top time.

The gaffer tape is out over at Mercedes and it's Lewis Hamilton's car that needs it. The seven-time world champion has 16 laps on the board but is stuck down in 18th place with a time in the 1:18s.

Max Verstappen's first flying lap on the soft tyre is a 1:17.707 - exactly the same time as second-placed Carlos Sainz. The Dutchman slips into third and will need to find over four tenths to better Charles Leclerc's marker.

I wonder how Carlos Sainz is feeling in the car today? The Spaniard said in the build-up he has put in an enormous amount of work in order to be well enough to take part this weekend in Australia and now he joins his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc at the top of the leaderboard in second. Sainz is 0.430 seconds adrift of the Monegasque driver's quickest marker.

1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) - 1:17.423

2. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +0.399

3. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +0.489

4. George Russell (Mercedes) +0.528

5. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) +0.543

Lance Stroll's stint at the front of the pack has come to an end. Charles Leclerc finds nearly four tenths on his latest run to clock a 1:17.423.

Max Verstappen is turning the air blue on the team radio, as Zhou Gunayu in the Sauber is blocking his path. The Chinese driver's engineer tells him the Dutchman is behind, but Zhou points out "yeah, it's too late, bro."

We've reached the red zone of second practice, as the majority of drivers take the soft C5 soft tyre out for a spin. The two Aston Martins are still the cars to beat.

Meanwhile, George Russell is down at Turn One and ends up cutting grass once again in the Mercedes after a twitch on his latest lap.

Work complete over at Red Bull and Max Verstappen has finally made his way out of the garage and into the track. The triple world champion is on the medium tyres but is not knocking on the door of the top 10 just yet.

Take two for Fernando Alonso and the Spaniard makes me eat my typed words by pulling out a 1:17.912 to go top.

Lance Stroll, meanwhile, has a wobble on track but is reassured by his Aston Martin pit wall there is "no drama".

There really wasn't anything for the Canadian to worry about, as the Canadian pushes his team-mate down the order and into second with a 1:17.822 on the same soft tyres.