Fernando Alonso made clear his goals as he seeks his first Formula 1 triumph in ten years. In the second practice exercise for this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, the Spaniard outperformed Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in his Aston Martin.
Despite dry circumstances when the session began, Mercedes-AMG’s champion Just as George Russell stepped onto the track for the hour-long practice session, he noted a few drizzles at Turn 3. Twenty minutes later, as the rain grew more intense, spectators pulled out their raincoats and umbrellas.
Recorded the Fastest Time
The drivers dipped into the pits to have their cars fitted with fresh sets of the Softs in an attempt to make one last lap on the dry tires, but this was in vain as the track conditions had gotten worse.
The session’s fastest time was achieved by Alonso before it started to rain. His 1:18.887 was just a little bit slower than Verstappen’s first practice session record of 1:18.790.
- Alonso made clear his goals as he seeks his first Formula 1 triumph in ten years.
- The session’s fastest time was achieved by Alonso before it started to rain.
- The third practice session begins at 3:30, and qualification follows at 7:00.
To say that Alonso is likely to win is to make an erroneous assumption. Given that 40 minutes of the second practice exercise were lost to the rain, it was rather unrepresentative.
Verstappen appeared more collected in FP2 after having a difficult FP1. And Sergio Perez, a teammate who was lightning-fast in FP1, failed to record a time that was truly representative in FP2.
Red Bull’s Verstappen and Perez will presumably compete for the pole position in qualifying, with Alonso having a remote chance of taking the spot away from his rivals. The same can be said about the competition on Sunday.
These three drivers will likely make up the trifecta in Sunday’s race, just as they did in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, and they should be prepared to start in the top three spots.
Saturday morning (SA time), the third practice session begins at 3:30, and qualification follows at 7:00. The competition starts at 7:00 on Sunday.
