F1 results: 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

Cla	Driver		Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Max Verstappen		17	1'18.790			241.157
2	Lewis Hamilton		20	1'19.223	0.433	0.433	239.839
3	Sergio Perez		19	1'19.293	0.503	0.070	239.627
4	Fernando Alonso		23	1'19.317	0.527	0.024	239.555
5	Charles Leclerc		16	1'19.378	0.588	0.061	239.371
6	Carlos Sainz		20	1'19.505	0.715	0.127	238.988
7	Lando Norris		16	1'19.536	0.746	0.031	238.895
8	Pierre Gasly		22	1'19.646	0.856	0.110	238.565
9	George Russell		23	1'19.699	0.909	0.053	238.407
10	Lance Stroll		19	1'19.766	0.976	0.067	238.206
11	Alex Albon		21	1'19.766	0.976	0.000	238.206
12	Oscar Piastri		22	1'19.777	0.987	0.011	238.173
13	Nico Hulkenberg		19	1'19.806	1.016	0.029	238.087
14	Nyck de Vries		25	1'19.933	1.143	0.127	237.709
15	Logan Sargeant		21	1'20.074	1.284	0.141	237.290
16	Esteban Ocon		20	1'20.175	1.385	0.101	236.991
17	Yuki Tsunoda		14	1'20.399	1.609	0.224	236.331
18	Valtteri Bottas		21	1'20.419	1.629	0.020	236.272
19	Zhou Guanyu		22	1'20.569	1.779	0.150	235.832
20	Kevin Magnussen		17	1'21.147	2.357	0.578	234.152
View full results

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, blaming the state of his tyres. 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

Cla	Driver		Laps	Time	Gap	Interval	km/h
1	Fernando Alonso		13	1'18.887			240.860
2	Charles Leclerc		10	1'19.332	0.445	0.445	239.509
3	Max Verstappen		12	1'19.502	0.615	0.170	238.997
4	George Russell		20	1'19.672	0.785	0.170	238.487
5	Carlos Sainz		12	1'19.695	0.808	0.023	238.418
6	Esteban Ocon		12	1'19.725	0.838	0.030	238.329
7	Sergio Perez		15	1'20.083	1.196	0.358	237.263
8	Lando Norris		20	1'20.176	1.289	0.093	236.988
9	Nico Hulkenberg		19	1'20.194	1.307	0.018	236.935
10	Pierre Gasly		12	1'20.206	1.319	0.012	236.899
11	Yuki Tsunoda		18	1'20.220	1.333	0.014	236.858
12	Valtteri Bottas		22	1'20.312	1.425	0.092	236.587
13	Lewis Hamilton		17	1'20.323	1.436	0.011	236.554
14	Oscar Piastri		24	1'20.380	1.493	0.057	236.387
15	Zhou Guanyu		22	1'20.470	1.583	0.090	236.122
16	Lance Stroll		15	1'20.579	1.692	0.109	235.803
17	Nyck de Vries		8	1'20.600	1.713	0.021	235.741
18	Alex Albon		18	1'21.182	2.295	0.582	234.051
19	Kevin Magnussen		18	1'21.266	2.379	0.084	233.809
20	Logan Sargeant		0
View full results

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 (also 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 McLaren, which was enough evidence to send everyone pitwards.

A heavy shower soaked the track, with Stroll coming closest to hitting the wall as drivers ventured out on intermediate tyres.