Max Verstappen tops Friday practice in Melbourne ahead of Fernando Alonso
Max Verstappen set the fastest lap on Friday at the Australian Grand Prix as Fernando Alonso proved his experience in difficult conditions.
Verstappen set the fastest lap of the day in Free Practice 1 earlier on Friday, setting a lap of 1:18.790 ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez.
Both Verstappen and Hamilton went fastest on the red soft tyre, with Perez third-fastest on the yellow medium tyre.
Despite an interrupted session, drivers were able to complete a substantial amount of running, with times around a second faster than last year with softer compounds available for 2023.
A lack of GPS caused traffic confusion and near-misses at the start of the session, with the track red flagged to deal with the technical issues.
The suspension also meant Perez ended his run on the red-walled soft tyres early, perhaps missing the chance to challenge Red Bull teammate Verstappen at the top of the time sheets.
When the session resumed it was Verstappen who reported intermittent mechanical issues with his gears and brakes, while Yuki Tsunoda was able to keep his Alpha Tauri out of the wall after a wild spin through the grass at turn one,
Analysis from Friday at the Australian Grand Prix - click to expand. (Pirelli)
In the cool and damp conditions of Free Practice 2 it was Fernando Alonso who went fastest, setting a time of 1:18.887 on the yellow medium tyre, able to get within a second of Verstappen’s earlier lap despite the rain and a harder set of tyres.
The Spaniard was fastest ahead of Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen, with local hero Oscar Piastri setting the fastest lap on intermediate tyres when the inclement weather moved in towards the end of the session.
Fernando Alonso was fastest for Aston Martin in Free Practice 2. (Aston Martin)
Tyre manufacturer Pirelli says that based on Friday’s running the gap in performance between each of the tyre compounds is around half a second.
"It’s been a variable day,” said motorsport director Mario Isola.
“As always at Albert Park, the asphalt conditions change very quickly, especially in the early sessions, and today was no exception.”
“It started raining shortly after the start of FP2 in the afternoon and that complicated the picture even more, as it wasn’t possible to carry out the long runs needed for a full assessment of the tyres.”
Pirelli estimates that teams will lose just 21 seconds to complete a green-flag pit stop, one of the fastest in the championship.
Combining that with the competitive balance between tyre compounds, the tyre manufacturer is hoping to provide teams with a range of strategy options for Sunday’s grand prix.
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