Fernando Alonso set the early pace in second practice at the Australian Grand Prix before rain affected the majority of the session.<\/span><\/p>\n The Aston Martin driver was 0.445 seconds quicker than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was third fastest, 0.615secs off the pace.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Verstappen topped the first session, run in dry conditions, ahead of Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton.<\/span><\/p>\n Hamilton was only 13th in the second, with team-mate George Russell fourth.<\/span><\/p>\n Hamilton’s dry-weather running was curtailed by a decision to pit for set-up changes in the front suspension.<\/span><\/p>\n Verstappen also appeared to be unhappy with his car balance in the dry, the world champion running wide over the grass at the first chicane before setting his fastest time.<\/span><\/p>\n It was the continuation of a scrappy day for Verstappen, who leads the world championship by one point from team-mate Sergio Perez after the first two races of the season.<\/span><\/p>\n Perez’s attempts to set a quick time in the second session were torpedoed by slower cars getting in his way on each of his laps and he ended up seventh fastest.<\/span><\/p>\n The forecast is for dry weather for the weekend’s running.<\/span><\/p>\n In the first session, Verstappen lost control of his Red Bull at Turn Four towards the end of the hour’s running on his first lap on a second set of soft-compound tyres.<\/span><\/p>\n Verstappen was 0.433secs quicker than Hamilton in that session.<\/span><\/p>\n Perez also lost control of his car on his run on soft tyres in the first session, in his case at Turn Three. He ended up with the third-fastest time with a lap on medium tyres.<\/span><\/p>\n Team principal Christian Horner admitted in the break between the sessions that neither Red Bull driver had been happy with their car in the first hour.<\/span><\/p>\n Alonso was fourth fastest in the first session, ahead of the Ferraris of Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.<\/span><\/p>\n McLaren’s Lando Norris was seventh and eighth in the two sessions.<\/span><\/p>\n Norris’ team-mate, the Australian rookie Oscar Piastri, was consistently fast in the wet conditions later in the session when many drivers explored the track on intermediate tyres. <\/span><\/p>\n Williams driver Alex Albon set the fastest time on intermediate tyres as the track began to dry towards the end of the session. <\/span><\/p>\n The first session was punctuated by a 10-minute red flag caused by the failure of F1’s GPS system, which tracks car position on track.<\/span><\/p>\n Governing body the FIA said the session needed to be stopped “for safety reasons with teams not being able to monitor car position and closing speed”.<\/span><\/p>\nWhat happened in the opening session?<\/h3>\n
Piastri impresses in the wet<\/h3>\n
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