- Speeds are up for Formula 1 teams in Melbourne. McLaren's Lando Norris was fastest with a lap at 152.850 mph. His lap was .149 seconds faster than Williams' Carlos Sainz Jr. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was third, then Oscar Piastri in the second McLaren. Red Bull's Max Verstappen was fifth.
The top 13 drivers were within a second of Norris' quick time. Isack Hadjar was the fastest of the rookies in ninth for RB.
The session had two red flags. The first of which was due to gravel being pulled onto the track. The second was more serious as Haas F1's Oliver Bearman lost control exiting turn 12, then spun into the
wall.
Bearman was ok, but his Haas was extensively damaged. The team scrambled to try to get him out for Free Practice No. 2, but failed to do so.
- In Free Practice No. 2, the speeds continued to escalate. Leclerc ended up fastest with a lap at 154.476 mph. The lap was .124 seconds
faster than Piastri. Norris was third, then Yuki Tsunoda and Lewis Hamilton.
- IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship teams had two additional practice sessions Thursday at Sebring International Raceway after our Newsletter went out.
In Practice No.
2, BMW M Team RLL's Sheldon van der Linde was fastest with a lap at 124.801 mph in his BMW M Hybrid V8. The lap was .114 seconds faster than Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian's Tom Blomqvist. Porsche Penske Motorsport's Matt Campbell and Felipe Nasr were third and fourth, while Dries Vanthoor was fifth.
TDS Racing's Mikkel Jensen was fastest in LMP2 with a lap at
121.340 mph, 14th overall. He was .190 seconds faster than Era Motorsport's Kakunoshin Ohta. AO Racing's Dane Cameron was third, then United Autosports' Ben Hanley. AF Corse/Pecom Racing's Nicklas Nielsen was fifth.
In GTD Pro, AO Racing's Laurin Heinrich was fastest in his Porsche with a lap at 112.295 mph, the only GT driver to lap the track in under two minutes. He was
.418 seconds faster than the Ferrari of DragonSpeed's Albert Costa. Vasser Sullivan's Kyle Kirkwood was third, then Paul Miller Racing's Neil Verhagen and Pfaff Motorsports' Andrea Caldarelli.
Korthoff Competition Motors' Kenton Koch was fastest in GTD with a lap at 111.920 mph, third quickest of the GT drivers and 26th overall. Koch was .220 seconds faster than
Triarsi Competizione's Mike Skeen. Inception Racing's Ollie Millroy was third, then Wright Motorsport's Elliott Skeer and Charlie Scardina in the second Triarsi Ferrari.
The 90-minute session ended five minutes early when Brendan Iribe spun out and hit the tire barriers in turn 13. While Iribe was able to drive his Ferrari back to the pits, the necessary cleanup ran out the
remainder of the session.
- In the night practice session, Action Express Racing's Jack Aitken was fastest with a lap at 123.381 mph in his Cadillac. He was one-eighth of a second faster than Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian's Nick Yelloly. Blomqvist was third, then Porsche Penske Motorsport's Nick Tandy and BMW M Team RLL's Kevin Magnussen.
Jensen was fastest in LMP2 with a lap at 121.851 mph, 11th overall. His lap was .644 seconds faster than United Autosports' Paul di Resta. Nielsen was third, then Inter Europol Competition's Tom Dillmann. CrowdStrike Racing by APR's Malthe Jakobsen was fifth.
In GT,
Winward Racing's Philip Ellis was fastest in his Mercedes with a lap at 111.699 mph, 26th overall. Ellis was .436 seconds faster than Korthoff Competition Motors' Maximilian Goetz. The Ferrari of Conquest Racing's Daniel Serra was third, then Skeer and Inception Racing's Frederic Schandorff.
Heinrich was fastest again in GTD Pro with a lap at 111.502 mph, 27th overall.
Heinrich was .248 seconds faster than Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports' Antonio Garcia. Nico Varrone was third in the second Corvette, then Ford Multimatic Motorsports' Sebastian Priaulx. Proton Competition's Richard Lietz was fifth.
The night session had three red flags. The first occurred 11 minutes in when Conquest Racing's Cedric Sbirrazzuoli spun at turn 5 and got stuck. Later on, Aaron Telitz
spun his Lexus in turn 3 to draw another one. A third red flag was due to debris.
- Thursday night's Kubota High Limit Sprint Car Series season opener was
postponed due to high winds and rain after the conclusion of time trials. They will continue the racing card tonight after the conclusion of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Ecosave 200. They are estimating a start time for hot laps at 11:30 p.m. ET. The card will air live on FLORacing. 
