MADRID, 8 Apr. (SportsFinding) –
The Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) dominated the free practice day at the Australian Grand Prix, the third round of the Formula 1 World Championship, ahead of the Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull), while the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) , who had commanded in Free Practice 1, finished third and Fernando Alonso (Alpine) surprised by being fourth.
Leclerc, leader of the championship, has signed the best time on Friday with a 1:18.978 that no one else could beat, being the only one capable of 1:19 and confirming the dominance of the ‘Scuderia’ on a day in which Sainz led the time table in the morning session.
The man from Madrid established himself as the fastest on the first track in Melbourne, ahead of his teammate and the Red Bulls, and was the only one to drop in the morning, in favorable conditions, from 1:20, a mark that almost all the pilots took it upon themselves to overcome already in the afternoon despite the threat of rain.
Again, in the afternoon session, the F1-75s aimed high to prove themselves the rival to beat at Albert Park, where medium tires replaced the soft ones in search of new sensations before the black clouds unleashed. The cars of the energetic team delayed their entrance to the track while they turned to remove both the flat bottom and the front wing of their single-seaters.
Only the Finn Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) managed to snatch, for a few minutes and at the beginning of the session, the privileged place from the ‘Cavallino Prancing’ cars, who soon took control to intersperse their positions and crown Leclerc as the fastest so far over the weekend.
Verstappen, meanwhile, seems to have hidden his cards, reserving a few tenths, and settled for second position in free practice, between the two Ferraris. In fact, he could have taken the lead on a lap without traffic, but he went wide on the last corner and had to wait for his next flying lap to achieve his final 1:19.223.
The current world champion was the only one who managed to avoid the big surprise on Friday, Fernando Alonso’s ‘podium’. The Spaniard managed to be third, but was relegated to a surprising fourth place that excites Alpine, with Frenchman Esteban Ocon sixth behind Mexican Sergio ‘Checo’ Pérez (Red Bull).
The Mercedes, meanwhile, did not even sneak into the ‘Top 10’, with seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton thirteenth and his compatriot George Russell eleventh.