Formula 2 News: Mini tops Melbourne Practice, Herta wads up his car

Gabriele Minì started off his Melbourne weekend on the front foot, ending the Practice session quickest of all, while IndyCar driver Colton Herta (pictured) crashed on his Formula 2 debut and crunched the concrete barrier.

The MP Motorsport driver set a 1:29.137 to take top spot ahead of Noel León and Rafael Câmara in second and third places for Campos Racing and Invicta Racing respectively.

Sebastian Montoya led the way in the early stages for PREMA Racing on a 1:33.093, but that time was then bettered by Joshua Duerksen. The Invicta driver delivered a 1:31.939 to lead the field with 10 minutes gone.

Dino Beganovic was able to post an improvement soon after, going top on a 1:31.505 despite catching traffic in the final sector.

Duerksen responded on his subsequent attempt to restore his advantage at the top and became the first driver to dip into the 1:30s.

MP’s Minì secured top spot before Nikola Tsolov then set the quickest effort for Campos. The Bulgarian’s 1:30.178 came just before the Red Flags were waving after a spin into the wall for Colton Herta on the exit of Turn 10.

Heartbreak for Colton Herta… 💔

The American hits the barriers on the exit of Turn 10 in the only Practice of the weekend 💥#F2 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/wxHxqirS3S

— Formula 2 (@Formula2) March 6, 2026

Once the Hitech was recovered, the session resumed with 20 minutes left of Practice.

Minì returned to the top of the times on his following lap, going narrowly ahead by just 0.017s before Leon usurped him by 0.018s.

Tsolov then went to the top on a 1:29.668, though Minì had been ahead before he lost his lap for exceeding track limits at Turn 6.

Into the final 10 minutes and León pipped his teammate by a tenth to go quickest until Minì secured top spot once again, this time on a 1:29.137.

A second Red Flag was thrown after a spin into the gravel for Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak at Turn 12.

With the ART Grand Prix car cleared away, running resumed with three minutes to go, enough time for the majority to get back around for one final flying lap.

Though there were several improvements, nobody could take P1 away from Minì.

León and Câmara followed with Tsolov fourth and Beganovic in fifth. Rodin Motorsport teammates Alexander Dunne and Martinius Stenshorne were sixth and seventh as Ritomo Miyata, Duerksen and Kush Maini rounded out the top 10.

Formula 2 Qualifying is scheduled to get underway at 14:55 local time.

2026 FIA Formula 2 – Round 1 Practice Provisional Classification