It was Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso who set the best time in this second free practice session of the Australian Grand Prix in 1.18.887 (Mediums), the Spaniard ahead of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari by four tenths ( Mediums) and six tenths the Red Bull of Max Verstappen (Mediums).
Behind, George Russell, Carlos Sainz, Esteban Ocon, Sergio Perez, Lando Norris, Nico Hülkenberg and Pierre Gasly complete the top ten of this final free practice session of the day, a session marked by the arrival of rain which means that the ranking is absolutely not representative of the true hierarchy.
The rain is coming
As announced, the rain made its appearance this Friday on the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne. After the first fifteen minutes of the session, the first drops started to fall, which forced the drivers to be very careful on a barely wet but extremely slippery track.
Several of them, including the reigning world champion, got a bit scared while passing through the gravel trap. Fortunately, everyone remained wise and the single-seaters returned to the garage for several long minutes, while the downpour passed.
Once the heaviest downpour had passed, the conditions were complicated as the track was neither dry nor wet, which forced the riders to go out on Intermediate tires to test the grip, before returning to put on Slicks, then to new Intermediates…. Finally, 20 minutes from the end of the session, a heavy downpour calmed everyone down and the drivers then settled for lining up the laps on wet track tires until the checkered flag.
Trafic paradise
Traffic remains one of the biggest problems for drivers on this Albert Park circuit. The drivers will have to make their way on the track this Saturday during qualifying to hope for a clean lap, which is not a foregone conclusion.
Indeed, before the rain came to disrupt the session, several drivers almost collided, just like a little earlier in the day during EL1 elsewhere….
The next free practice session [EL3] is scheduled for this Saturday, April 1 at 3:30 a.m. (Paris time) and you can of course follow these tests live on our site at this address.
EL2 results in Melbourne
