Home F1 Australian GP: Alonso fastest in rain-affected FP2 from Leclerc

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Australian GP: Alonso fastest in rain-affected FP2 from Leclerc

31/03/2023

Fernando Alonso headed FP2 in F1 Australian GP from Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen after rain affected the running.

After a scrappy FP1 session, the FP2 running was limited due to rain which has been predicted for the weekend. There was some dry running on the medium tyres but not many could run the soft tyres to set a qualifying lap time.

Aston Martin’s Alonso set the pace with a 1m18.887s lap ahead of Ferrari’s Leclerc and Red Bull’s Verstappen where the Dutchman could have quicker on his dry lap. He did have a wide moment along with Alonso early in their run as he faced more snapping.

Mercedes’ George Russell was fourth on the hard compound, with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz in fifth. The Italian manufacturer were out of sequence in their running as they sampled the intermediate compound at a stage when it was raining hard.

Alpine’s Esteban Ocon slotted in sixth after a difficult FP1, as Red Bull’s Sergio Perez was seventh on the soft compound. The Mexican had a couple of his lap being hampered by traffic, as McLaren’s Lando Norris continued his Top 10 run in eighth.

The Brit also had a grass moment before the rain. The Top 10 was rounded by Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, as AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda was 11th from Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.

The Brit’s car was seen being worked upon long, as McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was 14th, Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was 16th but not only had a wall touch, he also had couple of moments when running the intermediate tyres.

Nyck de Vries was 17th as AlphaTauri opted not to run the intermediate tyre as Williams’ Alexander Albon and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen were the 19 runners where Williams’ Logan Sargeant did get track time after team continued solving the electrical issue.

Along with Russell, the likes of Norris, Hulkenberg, Gasly, Tsunoda, Hamilton, Stroll and de Vries all set their best time on the hard compound, while Albon did so on the soft. Also, this was the first proper running of the intermediate tyres in F1 2023.