Verstappen, Alonso already fighting for the top spot in Australia

Max Verstappen led FP1, while Fernando Alonso was fastest in the second session, which was characterized by rain.

FP1

Everybody hit the track immediately as soon as the lights turned green. As usual, the track was green, and the first laps weren't significant.

Kevin Magnussen had some issues at turn 3. He locked the rear and went wide, finishing on the gravel. He managed to continue without damage.

Max Verstappen touched the gravel at the exit of turn 11, but he just clipped it with no major problems.

Lewis Hamilton also got quite a scary moment:

Halfway through the session, it was Verstappen leading the group with the soft tires. Sergio Perez was second with the mediums, then Leclerc and Sainz with the softs, Stroll and Albon with the mediums, Piastri (soft), Alonso (hard), Russell (soft), and Devries (medium).

Perez was going for a flying lap with the soft tires, but he lost the rear at turn 3 and went on the gravel. Yuki Tsunoda also went for an off-track excursion. He lost the rear at turn 1 and heavily jumped on the gravel, but managed to stop before hitting the wall.

Magnussen went wide once again. This time it was at turn 10, risking losing the car and hitting the wall in one of the most difficult corners of the track. Hulkenberg struggled a bit at turn 13, going wide on the grass also due to a McLaren disturbing him while braking.

With 23 minutes to go, the red flag was displayed due to GPS issues.

Verstappen wanted to try a flying lap with the soft right at the end, but on three consecutive occasions, he couldn't put it together. He went wide at turn 1 twice and spun at the end of the first sector on his third attempt.

Logan Sargeant stopped in the last sector as his car shut off. The session was red-flagged with four minutes to go.

The top ten at the end of FP1 was: Verstappen, Hamilton, Perez, Alonso, Leclerc, Sainz, Norris, Gasly, Russell, and Stroll.

FP2

Since the teams expected some rain, everybody went out on track immediately, except for Sargeant, whose car still had to be fixed.

Verstappen still showed issues in turn 1, where both Red Bulls struggled in FP1.

After 15 minutes, Russell said on the radio that it started to rain, and some fans opened their umbrellas.

Probably due to the light rain, other drivers struggled in turn 1, too. Then, everybody returned to the pit lane as heavy rain was expected.

There wasn't much action on the track as the rain didn't stop. Some drivers tested the conditions with the intermediate tires.

Since it was impossible to improve, Alonso kept the lead ahead of Leclerc, and Verstappen. Then Russell, Sainz, Ocon, Perez, Norris, Hulkenberg, and Gasly completed the top 10. These times were set with slick tires.

Tech updates

• Red Bull brought a different front wing, which had a low downforce design.
• Ferrari brought the same floor tried during FP1 at Jeddah for the first time.