Verstappen, Alonso fastest in Australian GP practice

Verstappen was fastest in FP1 for Red Bull, despite a spin, and Alonso was quickest for Aston Martin in a rain-impacted FP2.

Australian Grand Prix FP1 results: Verstappen fastest from Hamilton

What happened in Australian GP Free Practice 1?

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez set the early pace on medium tyres at 1m20.267s, until Verstappen beat that with 1m19.332s on softs. Lewis Hamilton went third for Mercedes, three quarters of a second down despite a wild slide at Turn 9.

Both Red Bulls improved after brief pitstops, with Verstappen lowering his P1 time to 1m19.278s and Perez just 0.015s slower. Verstappen then went even faster with a 1m18.790s, half a second quicker than Perez and almost a second up on the rest. That proved to be the fastest lap of the day.

Teams gravitated to the softs in the second half of the session, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc going third but was six tenths away from the pace, with team-mate Carlos Sainz nine tenths adrift. Perez suffered an off on his first push lap on softs and didn’t improve.

Alonso beat both Ferraris and got his Aston Martin to within 0.061s of Perez. The session was red flagged due to a GPS issue with just over 20 minutes remaining, which explained a high number of near misses in traffic.

After the resumption, Verstappen suffered a spin at Turn 4, as Hamilton jumped up to second, 0.433s off Verstappen. Perez was third, ahead of Alonso, Leclerc and Sainz.

Williams’s Logan Sargeant pulled off after an apparent electrical shutdown, which ended the session four minutes early.

Kevin Magnussen suffered an early off in his Haas at Turn 3, and later endured another wild ride at Turn 11. Yuki Tsunoda spun his AlphaTauri through the gravel at Turn 1.

Australian Grand Prix FP2 results: Alonso fastest from Leclerc

What happened in Australian GP Free Practice 2?

With rain threatening, and some spots already falling, teams were keen to maximise their track time early on. Verstappen bashed out an early 1m19.759s before running wide on the grass at Turn 1.

Perez, who started off on softs and set some rapid sector times, got held up on his first flying lap by Aston’s Lance Stroll. Alonso took over the top spot with 1m18.887s on mediums, eight tenths ahead of Sainz on softs and Verstappen on mediums.

Leclerc then took second on mediums, 0.445s off Alonso, as Verstappen also improved his time but stayed third as the rain intensified. Lando Norris suffered a brief off through the gravel at Turn 1 in his