Alonso leads Leclerc as rain interrupts second practice · RaceFans

Fernando Alonso was quickest in a rain-interrupted second practice session in Melbourne ahead of Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen.

The Aston Martin driver set the fastest time early in the session before rain began to fall around the 15 minute mark, which put a stop to any further improvements on the timing screen. Alonso’s 1’18.887 put him almost half a second quicker than Leclerc’s Ferrari.

With clouds drifting over Albert Park threatening rain before the session began, the temperature had dropped significantly compared to the opening hour of practice as the second hour of running got underway. With a 40% risk of rain expected, there was a rush of cars onto the circuit as the green light appeared at the end of the pit lane, drivers dicing for track position over the first two sectors of the lap to secure a clear track to start their runs.

Carlos Sainz Jnr won the race to start the first flying lap and he duly set the initial benchmark with a 1’20.378, with Alonso going second, half a tenth behind. Sainz was displaced by Ferrari team mate Leclerc, before Max Verstappen broke into the 1’19s to go quickest of all.

Alonso improved by well over a second on his second flying lap on his medium tyres, going quickest of all by eight tenths of a second over Sainz who also improved on his second effort. Verstappen abandoned his next push lap after a mistake in the first corner which saw him run across the grass.

After traffic caused trouble in the earlier session, the radio waves were again filled with drivers complaining about their laps being spoiled by rivals getting in their way. Sainz arrived at turn 11 to find a gaggle of cars all struggling to clear a path, while Perez complained that two of his laps were ruined by Lance Stroll and Zhou Guanyu, respectively.

Within ten minutes of the session starting, drivers started to report light rain around the circuit. The field returned to the pits, with some teams opting to send out their cars on soft tyres in case track conditions would fail to improve for the rest of the hour. Alonso and Lando Norris both started flying laps, but quickly abandoned them after both ran wide at the first corner.

With grip levels clearly diminished due to the rain, the track fell silent as drivers returned to the safety of their garages. After a lull of nearly ten minutes, Ferrari sent both Sainz and Leclerc out onto the circuit on soft dry tyres while George Russell also took to the track on intermediate tyres. Russell soon…