Australia - EL2: Alonso dominates, the rain comes

Faster during the first fifteen minutes played in the dry before the rain arrived, Fernando Alonso put his name at the top of the timesheet, even if Red Bull seemed to have more pace.

Published on 31/03/2023 à 08:05

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Australia – EL2: Alonso dominates, the rain comes

Fernando Alonso, best time in FP2. © Xavi Bonilla / DPPI

After the sun, the raindrops! The second free practice session for the Australian Grand Prix was indeed marked by the interruption of heavy rain after only 15 minutes of driving. After all, Melbourne isn’t known for being the city of 4 seasons in one day for nothing! At the very start of the session, while the sky was clouding over but the track was still dry, the drivers hurried to hit the track.

This is how Fernando Alonso went for the best time of the session. The Spaniard, at the cost of a very strong third sector, stuck 8/10th to the competition. Charles Leclerc, in the process, managed to reduce the gap by half (+0″445), ahead of Max Verstappen (+0″615). Twice it was thought that Sergio Pérez would take control, but the Mexican was blocked on both attempts in traffic. On his second flying lap, Checo even had a 4/10th lead over Alonso's best time before being prevented.

The rain spoils the party

At fault in EL1, Max Verstappen this time went onto the grass at turn 1, without damage however, like Lando Norris a few minutes earlier. And then, after fifteen minutes, Weather Mister George Russell was the first to report the intensifying raindrops. For ten minutes, the protagonists observed each other, thinking that the rain would stop.

It's a slippery slide out there 😲🛝💦#AusGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/ZEs0h1yCNq

— Formula 1 (@F1) March 31, 2023

And then, halfway through the session, everyone understood that it wouldn't dry out and some decided to take to the track as intermediates, covering a few laps and collecting some data that was obviously interesting at this stage of the season. Lance stroll actually had a little scare in this context, almost losing his Aston Martin very close to the grass but especially to the wall before catching the blow at the last minute.

For its part, Logan sargeant did not drive at all in EL2 after suffering an electrical problem during the first session. Note that the classification should be taken with a grain of salt due to the disparate number of laps performed in the dry, with the use of different compounds. Continuation of Australian driving this Friday at 8:30 a.m. with the qualification of the Formula 2. The Formula 1 cars will be back on track during the night from Friday to Saturday French time (3:30 a.m.) before qualifying at 7 a.m.