The good news does not stop for Fernando Alonso and his Aston Martin. The Spaniard set the best time this Friday in the second free practice for the Australian Grand Prix, in Melbourne. It is true that the times are not significant, given that for more than half of it, it was filmed in wet conditions -not expected, in principle, neither on Saturday nor on Sunday-, but the distance of half a second suggests that the single-seater also works at Albert Park. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), for his part, was fifth in the time table, two places ahead of the Mexican Sergio Pérez (Red Bull).
Each new step is unknown. Every day is a new discovery. This is how Aston Martin lives this beginning of the season. After two formidable races, in Australia the same doubts about the performance of the car returned. But on the first day they were cleared. Beyond the fact that Red Bull is superior and that Ferrari has been more competitive, there is no doubt that Aston Martin will be fighting for the top positions.
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 Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull) – leader of the World Cup 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 on 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 MY Ferrari has 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
10. Pierre Gasly FRA Alpine 1,319
11. Yuki Tsunoda JPN Alpha Tauri 1,323
12. Valtteri Bottas FIN Alfa Romeo 1,425
13. Lewis Hamilton GBR Mercedes 1,436
14. Oscar Piastri AUS McLaren 1,494
15. Zhou Guanyu CHN Alfa Romeo 1,583
16. Lance Stroll CAN Aston Martin 1,692
17. Nyck de Vries DOWN Alpha Tauri 1,713
18. Alexander Albon THA Williams 2,295
19. Kevin Magnussen THE Haas 2,379
20. Logan Sargeant USA Williams out of time
