Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso topped the timesheets forward of Ferrari ace Charles Leclerc in a rain-hit second apply on the Australian Grand Prix on Friday, however world champion Max Verstappen went quickest for the day.
The Spanish veteran adopted up his podium finishes on the first two races of the season in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia with one other eye-opening run.
He powered across the bumpy Albert Park circuit underneath darkening clouds earlier than rain fell in a finest time of 1 minute 18.887 seconds amongst his 13 laps, bettering his fourth place within the first one-hour session.
“The afternoon was clearly impacted by the rain, so there’s nonetheless some work to do tomorrow,” stated Alonso.
“We need to learn more about the tyres and the long-run pace of the car because there was not much time for that today. So far though the car seems to behave well.”
Leclerc, who received in Australia final yr, got here an encouraging second after Ferrari’s early season reliability and tempo points, practically half a second adrift however forward of Verstappen.
The Red Bull pilot, the early championship chief, clocked a 1:18.790 within the first apply when he had an out-of-character spin, which was higher than Alonso’s second session finest.
But the Dutchman had no respectable alternative to enhance on it on a moist observe, saying it was slippery and he had low grip.
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“It was tough to inform how the automobile felt as we by no means acquired a window the place I believed we have been on high of the tyres,” he said.
“We’ll look over the data tonight and see what we have to do tomorrow. The conditions should be clearer for the rest of the weekend, so we can focus on that.”
– Not so good –
Red Bull are trying to attain a 3rd consecutive 1-2 end for the primary time within the workforce’s historical past in Melbourne after their dominance in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Verstappen’s teammate and Jeddah winner Sergio Perez got here seventh.
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Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was a shock second within the opening apply however might solely handle a disappointing thirteenth in FP2.
“This morning was good, however this afternoon wasn’t nearly as good,” the Briton said.
“We made some changes after FP1 that didn’t quite work and we will look to revert this evening.”
His teammate George Russell was fourth forward of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon sixth.
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McLaren’s Lando Norris, Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly within the different Alpine rounded out the highest 10.
Williams’ Logan Sargeant, who had {an electrical} downside in the course of the first apply, failed to finish a lap.
As in FP1, Sainz was first out and set the early tempo earlier than Verstappen, who made his debut on the 2015 Australian GP as a 17-year-old, rapidly took over to energy clear.
But his reign on the high was temporary, with Alonso posting a scorching lap and Leclerc additionally bettering him earlier than mild rain started falling and the umbrellas went up within the grandstand.
Virtually all the automobiles headed again to the pits with 40 minutes remaining after Norris ran onto the grass at Turn 1 when his grip failed and Lance Stroll tapped a wall in his Aston Martin.
The drizzle eased and a number of automobiles headed again out, together with Sainz and Leclerc.
But they didn’t final, with Leclerc saying on the workforce radio “there’s no level driving like this”.
Others ventured out to test the waters later, primarily to gather data, but no one improved their times.
The forecast for Sunday’s race is dry.
In an eventful first practice, Haas’s Kevin Magnussen and Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda both skidded into the gravel. The Japanese star hit the gravel backwards and narrowly avoiding the barriers.
There were some close calls with that session red-flagged for safety reasons due to GPS issues, with teams not able to monitor car position.
It was halted again when Sargeant stopped on the track with just minutes remaining.
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