McLaren's Piastri fastest in second practice at Australian Grand Prix

Oscar Piastri delighted home fans by putting McLaren top of the timesheets in second free practice for the Australian Grand Prix on Friday as struggling Aston Martin nursed both cars through laps during the session.

Hometown hero Piastri lapped Albert Park in one minute, 19.729 seconds on a sunny afternoon, 0.214 seconds ahead of Mercedes drivers Kimi Antonelli and George Russell.

Ferrari duo Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc were fourth and fifth quickest.

Formula One's new engine era launched with trepidation and a spate of reliability issues, with the virtual safety car triggered twice in the opening session (FP1).

The mishaps continued in the second (FP2), with Max Verstappen stalling in the pit lane straight after exiting the Red Bull garage, and later taking a heavy skid through gravel after locking up at turn 10.

The four-times champion and runner-up last year sat out nearly half the session before returning to post the sixth-fastest time.

Defending champion Lando Norris improved to seventh in the session after being 19th in FP1, with a gearbox problem blighting his opening session.

Pre-season favourite Russell had an eventful run in FP2, locking up at turn three and sliding into gravel midway through.

He also needed a minor fix at the start of the session after colliding with Racing Bulls' 18-year-old rookie Arvid Lindblad in the pit lane.

"This guy's just hit my front wing," Russell said over the team radio.

Hamilton emulated Russell with a similar slide at turn three. Leclerc earlier led a Ferrari 1-2 in FP1, posting 1:20.267, nearly a half-second quicker than Hamilton.

The new hybrid engines, which feature a much larger share of electric power than in the previous era, have proved a steep learning curve for drivers, placing a greater onus on managing energy deployment and regeneration.

Having barely clocked any laps during winter testing due to reliability issues, Aston Martin's troubled start continued.

Fernando Alonso was unable to take part in FP1 while teammate Stroll managed only three laps.

The pair combined for 31 laps in FP2, though, with Alonso 20th quickest, a second ahead of Stroll.

Stroll's fastest lap was more than six seconds adrift of Piastri's.

Sergio Perez, returning to racing with new team Cadillac, did not post a lap in FP2.