Martin Brundle spots frontrunning car looking ‘the most difficult’ in Australia

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One of the top F1 cars looked like the biggest handful in practice for the Australian Grand Prix on Friday, Sky Sports’ Martin Brundle says.

Charles Leclerc topped the second session for Ferrari, nearly four tenths clear of championship leader Max Verstappen in the Red Bull.

Speaking during Sky F1’s coverage, Brundle said one of the fastest cars on the grid was visibly ‘struggling’.

Carlos Sainz, returning this weekend after undergoing an appendectomy in Saudi Arabia and missing the race, was third.

Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso placed fourth and fifth in a promising showing for Aston Martin, while George Russell was the lead Mercedes car in sixth.

Martin Brundle says Mercedes ‘struggling’ in Australia

Watching on from trackside at turns one and two, Brundle said the Mercedes was ‘unquestionably’ the least compliant car.

The former F1 driver noticed that the rear of the W15 was unstable on the exit of the corner.

He said: “Unquestionably the most difficult car to drive through here that I’ve seen so far – both the Mercedes Benz.

“They’re really struggling here. When they put the throttle on, they’re really moving around.

“The back end of the car [is] complaining hard.”

While Russell’s lap-time was good enough for the top six, he was nearly seven tenths off the pace of Leclerc.

Lewis Hamilton, meanwhile, endured a miserable session as he wound up down in 19th, more than 1.5 seconds adrift.

With Alex Albon out of action for Williams, the Haas of Kevin Magnussen was the only car slower.

Mercedes still wrestling with W15

After finishing sixth and ninth at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix last time out, Mercedes launched an investigation into ‘fundamental’ design issues with their car.

F1 race-winner Johnny Herbert feels as if the team are ‘running around in circles’ as they try to reel in Red Bull.

The Silver Arrows won every constructors’ title between 2014 and 2021 but Verstappen and the Bulls are now the dominant force.

They have won just one Grand Prix since the start of the ground effect era in 2022, with Russell taking victory in Brazil.

There’s a feeling that they remain ‘at least a year’ behind their competitors, chiefly Red Bull, as they struggle to master the regulations.

And there are also suggestions of a lack of correlation between the team’s simulation tools and what they’re seeing on track.

Hamilton said before the weekend that he’s ‘obviously not happy’ with results so far.

The team opted to affix the floor they ran in pre-season testing in the hope of unlocking more performance.

But on the early evidence, that experiment is yet to succeed.

Hamilton and Russell will hope to make the necessary changes overnight to deliver an improved showing in qualifying in Australia.