F1 Australian GP: Alonso leads Leclerc in wet FP2

Verstappen led the pack out of the pits at the start of FP2, but it was Carlos Sainz who logged the first time to set the first place benchmark, the Spaniard putting in a 1m20.378s on the medium tyres.

A few minutes later, Verstappen beat this with a 1m19.759s while also running the mediums, before Sainz shot back ahead with his second lap to complete a 1m19.695s.

But this only stood as the best time for a few moments as Alonso’s first flier on the mediums resulted in a 1m18.887s for the Spaniard, which then stood as the leading lap for nearly all the session.

This was because shortly before the first quarter of the one-hour session had been completed, rain began to hit Albert Park – most noticeably at the first corners where Verstappen had an early off catching snap oversteer running the rapid right and immediately following Turn 2 left.

Just before conditions really worsened, Leclerc slotted into second behind Alonso, with the Aston driver and Lando Norris sliding deep at Turn 1 as fans in the grandstands put on hats and coats to shield themselves from the weather.

In Norris’s case, his off had him shooting deep into the grass runoff behind Turns 1/2, then skating through the gravel trap before continuing on his way.

Lance Stroll tapped the wall approaching the super-fast Turn 9 left as a few runners remained on the track in the slippery conditions, after which all the cars returned to the pits in a lengthy lull in action.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Around the half-way mark, the Ferrari drivers went back out on the softs, with George Russell following them out on the intermediates – but all three pitted after one lap as the red cars struggled on slicks and the track was not wet enough for the inters on the Mercedes.

Esteban Ocon, Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen then ventured out on the inters, but again did not complete timed laps and little action took place.

Approaching the final 20 minutes, a gaggle of cars did take back to the track, including Verstappen, to complete additional running on the inters – plus conduct practice starts at the end of the pitlane to gather data should Sunday’s race end up starting in similar conditions.

The wet running meant none of the top times were troubled to the end of the session, with the most notable action Stroll and Russell nearly dropping their cars and spearing into the inside wall just past Turn 3, with Stroll also sliding off and briefly skating through the gravel at the same corner in a different incident.

Behind Alonso, Leclerc and Verstappen in the final times came Russell, Sainz, Ocon and Sergio Perez in seventh.

Perez had been on a lap that would have easily beaten Alonso’s best time as he circulated on the softs during the early running, but he came across Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo at the critical, fast Turns 9/10 complex and had to abandon the lap.

Lando Norris, Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly rounded out the top 10.

Logan Sargeant did not take any part in FP2 as Williams continued to investigate the electrical issue stopped him on-track late in FP1.

Full Australian GP FP2 results:

Cla	Driver		Chassis	Engine	Time	Gap
1	Fernando Alonso		Aston Martin	Mercedes	1'18.887
2	Charles Leclerc		Ferrari	Ferrari	1'19.332	0.445
3	Max Verstappen		Red Bull	Red Bull	1'19.502	0.615
4	George Russell		Mercedes	Mercedes	1'19.672	0.785
5	Carlos Sainz		Ferrari	Ferrari	1'19.695	0.808
6	Esteban Ocon		Alpine	Renault	1'19.725	0.838
7	Sergio Perez		Red Bull	Red Bull	1'20.083	1.196
8	Lando Norris		McLaren	Mercedes	1'20.176	1.289
9	Nico Hulkenberg		Haas	Ferrari	1'20.194	1.307
10	Pierre Gasly		Alpine	Renault	1'20.206	1.319
11	Yuki Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	Red Bull	1'20.220	1.333
12	Valtteri Bottas		Alfa Romeo	Ferrari	1'20.312	1.425
13	Lewis Hamilton		Mercedes	Mercedes	1'20.323	1.436
14	Oscar Piastri		McLaren	Mercedes	1'20.380	1.493
15	Zhou Guanyu		Alfa Romeo	Ferrari	1'20.470	1.583
16	Lance Stroll		Aston Martin	Mercedes	1'20.579	1.692
17	Nyck de Vries		AlphaTauri	Red Bull	1'20.600	1.713
18	Alex Albon		Williams	Mercedes	1'21.182	2.295
19	Kevin Magnussen		Haas	Ferrari	1'21.266	2.379
20	Logan Sargeant		Williams	Mercedes
View full results