Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen set the best time of the day in free practice for the Australian Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver was almost a tenth faster than Fernando Alonso in the Aston Martin on his best lap at Albert Park in Melbourne.
The Spaniard drove his best time right at the beginning of the second session, before permanent rain didn’t allow any more improvements. In the first free practice session in the dry, Verstappen was clearly the fastest, just under half a second ahead of record world champion Lewis Hamilton. Haas driver Nico Hülkenberg finished 14th.
Dry conditions are expected for qualifying on Saturday and the race on Sunday (7:00 a.m. CEST/Sky).
However, not everything went smoothly for world championship leader Verstappen, so he made a spin, the Dutchman was still looking for grip. “Alonso is very fast and just 14 points behind us in the World Championship – that’s nothing,” said Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko on Sky: “The car may still be a little too nervous. It will be a close race, I assume .”
There were also several near-collisions because the GPS system was not working properly at times. The race control therefore interrupted the training session for a few minutes.
Red Bull won the first two races of the season through Verstappen and Perez, the Dutchman is one point ahead of his stable rivals in the World Championship. The world champion racing team is also favored for the third race of the season on Sunday. However, Red Bull last won in Melbourne in 2011 through Sebastian Vettel.
