REPORT | Alonso leads a wet FP2 at Albert Park!

Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso led the session with a four-tenth gap to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Max Verstappen rounded out the top three, with most unable to improve their times through the rain.

Temperatures cooled down with a lot more cloud cover at the Melbourne circuit for FP2. Rain was looming, and it was definitely a concern early on for teams and drivers up and down the paddock.

Once again, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was first out onto the track, closely followed by a massive chain of cars interested to get some extra time before the weather would play any part. Logan Sargeant had to bide his time, as his engineers worked away at repairing his car from an electrical failure from FP1.

Traffic played a massive part throughout the session, with sector three being the main area for congestion. Early on, Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz were already taking issue with some of their competitors holding them up through the lap. This will likely be even more of a dramatic issue through qualifying.

Small moments continued for drivers, with championship leader Max Verstappen cutting across the grass at turn one early in the session. Lando Norris made a similar mistake once the rain picked up. Lance Stroll had to escape onto the grass through turn three through the inclement weather.

The rain started to come down more heavily about 15 minutes into the session. This caused some teams to be more cautious, calling their drivers back in, while others continued to pound around the circuit. At one point, Mercedes’ George Russell came out on intermediate compounds for a sighting lap around the damp circuit. 

Gradually, many more drivers ventured bravely out onto the circuit with intermediates now bolted on, trying to get some wet weather practice under their belt. However, none were able to make improvements to their times through the wet track.

Be sure to join us tomorrow for the FP3 and Qualifying liveblog at Albert Park!