Just 20 minutes into the session, the Cadillac F1 test driver spun at Turn 10 and careened into the inside wall.
The left rear corner of the Hitech Grand Prix car suffered significant damage, enough to put the American out of the session.
Practice was red-flagged as a result, as Herta’s car was recovered.
It’s a bitter blow to Herta’s preparation with just the sole 45-minute practice session before qualifying on Friday afternoon at 2:55pm AEDT.
“It looks like he’s lost it, actually quite early in the corner in comparison to some there,” said commentator Alex Brundle on Sky Sports F1.
“It looks like he might have lost it on the direction change. Rear into the tyre wall. Doesn’t look to be too much damage to the rest of the car.
“It’s more the track time at this stage that he could have really used.”
🔴 RED FLAG 🔴
Colton Herta is off on the exit of Turn 10.#F2 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/Oau7xfcGJS
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) March 5, 2026
Herta’s incident was one of two in the first half of the session. Newly-signed Alpine junior Alex Dunne had a close shave after going off at Turn 1 and half-spinning his Rodin Motorsport car.
At the time of the incident, Red Bull junior Nikola Tsolov led the way for Campos Racing ahead of MP Motorsport’s Gabriele Mini. Tsolov’s teammate Noel Leon was third.
Tasanapol Inthraphuvisak brought out the second red flag of the session at Turn 12 when he backed his car into the tyre wall.
Mini wound up on top of the timesheets with a 1:29.137s, a substantial four tenths clear of Leon.
Results: FIA Formula 2 Championship Australian Grand Prix, Practice
| Pos | Num | Driver | Laps | Lap | Diff | Gap |
| 1 | 9 | Gabriele Mini | 14 | 1:29.137 | ||
| 2 | 5 | Noel Leon | 18 | 1:29.545 | 0.4 | 0.4 |
| 3 | 1 | Rafael Camara | 19 | 1:29.564 | 0.4 | 0 |
| 4 | 6 | Nikola Tsolov | 18 | 1:29.668 | 0.5 | 0.1 |
| 5 | 7 | Dino Beganovic | 19 | 1:29.710 | 0.5 | 0 |
| 6 | 15 | Alexander Dunne | 17 | 1:29.777 | 0.6 | 0 |
| 7 | 14 | Martinius Stenshorne | 17 | 1:29.787 | 0.6 | 0 |
| 8 | 3 | Ritomo Miyata | 19 | 1:29.861 | 0.7 | 0 |
| 9 | 2 | Joshua Durksen | 17 | 1:29.974 | 0.8 | 0.1 |
| 10 | 16 | Kush Maini | 18 | 1:29.989 | 0.8 | 0 |
| 11 | 8 | Roman Bilinski | 19 | 1:30.101 | 0.9 | 0.1 |
| 12 | 17 | Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak | 14 | 1:30.107 | 0.9 | 0 |
| 13 | 12 | Mari Boya | 16 | 1:30.226 | 1 | 0.1 |
| 14 | 22 | Nico Varrone | 18 | 1:30.399 | 1.2 | 0.1 |
| 15 | 10 | Oliver Goethe | 17 | 1:30.500 | 1.3 | 0.1 |
| 16 | 20 | Emerson Fittipaldi | 18 | 1:30.522 | 1.3 | 0 |
| 17 | 23 | Rafael Villagomez | 16 | 1:30.573 | 1.4 | 0 |
| 18 | 11 | Sebastian Montoya | 17 | 1:30.632 | 1.4 | 0 |
| 19 | 25 | John Bennett | 18 | 1:30.694 | 1.5 | 0 |
| 20 | 24 | Laurens Van Hoepen | 18 | 1:30.804 | 1.6 | 0.1 |
| 21 | 21 | Cian Shields | 18 | 1:30.842 | 1.7 | 0 |
| 22 | 4 | Colton Herta | 8 | 1:33.738 | 4.6 | 2.8 |
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