Sports writing (EFE).- The Spanish Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), set the best time this Friday in the second practice session for the Australian Grand Prix, in Melbourne, which was not significant, since for more than half of It rolled in wet conditions -not expected, in principle, neither this Saturday nor on Sunday- and in which his compatriot Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) registered fifth in the time table, two places ahead of the Mexican Sergio Pérez (Red Bull).
In the best of his thirteen laps, before it began to rain and there were intermissions, the double world champion from Asturias -third in the championship, after getting on the podium in the first two races of the year- covered, with the medium tire, the 5,278 meters of the Albert Park circuit in one minute, 18 seconds and 887 thousandths: 445 less than the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and with an advantage of 615 over the Dutch Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – leader of the contest and who aspires to achieve a third title in a row-, which also marked their times with the medium compound.
Sainz -fourth in the World Championship- repeated the layout of the Australian track twelve times, in a test that was of little use and in which it was not even possible to complete the batches with a more loaded tank. In his best lap, also with the middle, he stopped the clock at 1:19.695; eight tenths of Alonso’s time, in a second youth at 41 years old, and who adds fourteen units less than Verstappen in the general.
‘Checo’, winner two Sundays ago in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) and second in the World Cup -with 43 points, just one behind his teammate- did fifteen laps; and in the best of them, which he could not complete, with the soft tyre, he was one second and 196 hundredths behind the Asturian double world champion. The Mexican, who signed his fifth victory in F1 in Arabia, registered seventh in the time table.
The session was also held at a much lower temperature than expected -16 degrees Celsius in the environment and 24 on the asphalt, before it started to drip- and there were a few ‘walks’, highlighting those of the Guadalajara driver himself ( Jalisco) and -in the first of the fourteen curves of Albert Park- as well as those of Alonso and the Englishman Lando Norris (McLaren); in a session with little else remarkable.
The third free practice will be held this Saturday, hours before the qualification that will order the starting formation of the Sunday race: scheduled for 58 laps, to complete a 306.1-kilometre route.
Time table of the second free practice for the Australian GP:
.1. Fernando Alonso ESP Aston Martin 1:18,887
.2. Charles Leclerc MON Ferrari a 0,445
.3. Max Verstappen NED Red Bull 0,615
.4. George Russell GBR Mercedes 0,785
.5. Carlos Sainz ESP Ferrari 0.808
.6. Esteban Ocon FROM Alpine 0.838
.7. Sergio Perez MEX Red Bull 1,196
.8. Lando Norris GBR McLaren 1,289
.9. Nico Hulkenberg GER Haas 1.307
- Pierre Gasly FRA Alpine 1,319
- Yuki Tsunoda JPN Alpha Tauri 1,323
- Valtteri Bottas FIN Alfa Romeo 1,425
- Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes 1,436
- Oscar Piastri AUS McLaren 1,494
- Zhou Guanyu CHN Alfa Romeo 1,583
- Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin 1,692
- Nyck de Vries DOWN Alpha Tauri 1,713
- Alexander Albon THA Williams 2,295
- Kevin Magnussen THE Haas 2,379
- Logan Sargeant USA Williams out of time