Melbourne, Apr.8(BNA): Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc led a one-two Ferrari sweep in the first practice session Friday for Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix.

Sainz completed the revamped Albert Park circuit in a time of 1 minute, 19.806 seconds, with Leclerc .571 second behind, reports AP.

Red Bull drivers Sergio Perez and defending series champion Max Verstappen were third and fourth-fastest ahead of a second practice session later Friday.

There will be another practice session on Saturday ahead of late afternoon qualifying for Sunday’s race.

Lewis Hamilton was seventh-fastest in his Mercedes and local hope Daniel Ricciardo was eighth in his McLaren.

Leclerc won the opening race of the season in Bahrain and Verstappen took the second in Saudi Arabia, both in March.

In a major renovation to the track, five corners were reprofiled at Albert Park and two were removed completely, meaning practice times were generally five seconds faster than in previous races.

The opening practice session came 756 days after the 2020 race was canceled at the last minute due to the COVID-19 pandemic with spectators lining up at the gates for the first practice session on Friday, March 13 of that year.

Leclerc said before the session that he felt the track renovations might give an advantage to Red Bull.

After two races, Leclerc leads the drivers championship with 45 points, followed by Sainz (33) and Verstappen (25).

Source: Bahrain News Agency