Fernando Alonso on top as rain scuppers Australian GP second practice plans

Fernando Alonso, Australia — Photo: © LAT Images

Australian Grand Prix

Alonso on top as rain scuppers Australian GP second practice plans

Rain 13 minutes into the session prevented qualifying simulations

Ewan Gale

Friday 31 March 2023 08:02 Updated: 15:50

Fernando Alonso emerged on top in a rain-affected second practice for the Australian Grand Prix.

The Spaniard finished 0.445secs faster than Charles Leclerc's Ferrari with a best effort of a one minute, 18.887s set on medium tyres.

Max Verstappen ended third, a further two-tenths down as drivers missed out on representative qualifying simulations with the rain coming down.

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Drivers rushed to hit the track early with rain predicted, causing traffic issues despite a fix to the GPS problems that brought FP1 to a stop earlier in the day.

The Red Bull drivers were at the heart of the traffic jams - Sergio Perez held up by Lance Stroll and then Zhou Guanyu with the Mexican labelling the issues as "horrendous".

Team-mate Verstappen found himself in the way of Ferrari's Carlos Sainz at turn 11, though the Dutchman was finding his way past two other cars.

But with only Perez and Williams driver Alex Albon fitting soft tyres and each driver tackling long run plans before the rain fell 13 minutes into the session, ending any chance for representative running.

With the rain intensity too low to prompt a change to intermediates and too high to allow for slick tyre running, there was a lull in the action until the final third of the session, where the track conditions worsened.

Stroll struggled with turn three in his intermediate-clad Aston Martin, almost spinning into the inside exit wall before sliding into the gravel on his next lap.

Lewis Hamilton replicated the Canadian's slide under power at turn three, confirming the lack of grip on track.

Logan Sargeant failed to hit the track for Williams with the team continuing to investigate and fix the electrical issue that brought his FP1 to an early end.