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Fernando Alonso shines in the Melbourne rain

Fernando Alonso shines in the Melbourne rain
Fernando Alonso
Image: APA/Paul Crock

Even with better conditions on Friday in Melbourne, the Spaniard in his Aston Martin was a good four tenths of a second ahead of Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari with a lap of 1:18.887 minutes. As expected, world champion Max Verstappen in the Red Bull was unbeatable on a dry track in the first practice session, which was more meaningful.

The wet track made a normal practice session three and a half hours later impossible. Before the rain got worse, the teams tried to do fast laps in a hurry.

After that, the dry tires could no longer be used. As a result, the times on the course in Albert Park allowed even less insight into the true balance of power. Verstappen finished third ahead of George Russell in the Mercedes.

“Undetectable” cars

However, the first unit was not trouble-free either. Problems with the GPS system had meant that training had to be interrupted for several minutes. The difficulties made it impossible for the teams to observe the vehicle’s position and the approach speeds on the track. Therefore, for safety reasons, the red flag was waved until the location was working again. Shortly before the end, the 60-minute session was canceled prematurely because Williams newcomer Logan Sargeant had to park his car right next to the track with technical problems.

Before the third race of the season on Sunday (7.00 a.m. CEST/live ServusTV and Sky), for which dry conditions and sunshine are expected again, Verstappen leads the overall standings by one point over Perez. Both have been able to win one Grand Prix each. Third is 41-year-old Alonso.

When it comes to the weather, you have to be prepared for everything in the Australian autumn. “We are prepared for all eventualities,” said Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko on ServusTV. In any case, the world champion team wanted to make the car more stable for the weekend, revealed the Styrian. “Especially if these weather conditions should continue, I think a less nervous car is more important.”

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