Fernando Alonso continued his strong start to the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship on the opening day of the Australian Grand Prix, after topping Free Practice Two.
Alonso is certainly rolling back the years so far this season, with the double World Champion having certainly proved that he still has what it takes to be a frontrunner. The Spaniard enjoyed a solid opening day at the Albert Park Circuit and ended the morning session in fourth, before topping the final session on the opening day before rain disrupted the afternoon session.
Whilst he topped FP2, Alonso’s fastest time of the day was the second quickest on the opening day, with Max Verstappen‘s time in Free Practice One having been the best on Friday. Alonso can certainly take plenty of confidence from the opening day, though, as he attempts to qualify on the front row for a second consecutive round.
Reflecting on the opening day in Australia, Alonso believes “there is still some work to do” mainly due to FP2 having been disrupted by rain.
“It was a good Friday for us and nice to be back in Australia. In FP1 we concentrated on some test items and ran through our programme smoothly. The afternoon was obviously impacted by the rain, so there is still some work to do tomorrow. We need to learn more about the tyres and the long run pace of the car because there was not much time for that today.
“So far though the car seems to behave well. The forecast tomorrow looks dry for now, and we would welcome that given we only experienced these conditions in the previous two races.”
“We did not log as many laps as we would have liked” – Lance Stroll
On the other side of the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula One Team garage, Lance Stroll endured a disappointing opening day in Melbourne, after being comfortably behind his team-mate.
The Canadian could only manage tenth in FP1 but revealed after the session that he used the time to “test various new parts”. Leaderboard wise, FP2 wasn’t any better for Stroll after he ended the session in sixteenth, seven-tenths behind Alonso. Given how strong Alonso was, the likelihood is that Stroll does have more pace to come, especially due to how little dry-running there was in FP2.
Stroll admitted that he didn’t “log as many laps as we would have liked” but that it’s an issue across the grid because of the rain; however, the weather is forecasted to improve on Saturday before qualifying.
“Albert Park is a track we all look forward to driving so it was good to get back out there today. The car was feeling good and we used FP1 to test various new parts which gives us plenty of data to look through this evening as we continue to learn about the AMR23.
“We did not log as many laps as we would have liked during FP2 because of the rain, but it is something that all teams will have struggled with so I do not think it puts us at a disadvantage for the weekend ahead. Thankfully, the weather looks like it will improve tomorrow, but it has been fairly unpredictable today so you never know!”
