Australian GP Practice Sees Most F1 Teams Struggling, Fernando Alonso Still Goes Fast

Granted, practice sessions are always more eventful than the actual race as every driver is testing the limits, but this one seemed particularly difficult, with many cars being spat out on the grass or gravel traps. Even the mighty Red Bull was not exempt from this, as both pilots pushed their cars a bit too hard and went off the track.

Speaking of gravel traps, Kevin Magnussen carried too much speed into the corners and managed to find them a couple of times. Maybe there is nothing else to this, but it is also possible that the HAAS does not handle braking especially well.

Yuki Tsunoda was another driver that pushed his limit too far, spinning out onto the gravel. The car went completely backward, leaving the young Japanese pilot a mere passenger and feeling lucky to not hit a wall.

The second practice session got even more haywire, as some rain started to hit the track. But before that happened, fans got to see an eager Lando Norris drift his uncompetitive McL60 out of the pits, as well as a traffic jam on track.

Granted, McLaren’s 2023 contender seems to have unlocked some extra pace, as Norris managed a top-10 placement in both practice sessions. With more upgrades already on the way for the Woking-based team, as well as management changes, fans can still hang on to a glimmer of hope.

Later on, the rain forced all the cars to change tires, and that’s when things slowed down. Most drivers were not able to achieve much during the later part of the session, leaving Fernando Alonso and his Aston Marin to hang on to the chart-topping time set before the rain fell.

The complementary F1 drama did not go missing from practice either, with Ferrari seeing the mandatory bit of action. Its customer teams have chosen to use their second allotted power unit, which although allowed by the regulations and not causing any penalties, still does not bode well. Choosing to use the second out of the three penalty-free power units so quickly is a clear indicator of some reliability issues, which Ferrari definitely does not need if it plans to mount a title challenge.

Fans learned that the pit boxes will be widened by 20 centimeters for the Australian Grand Prix. This comes as a result of both Esteban Ocon and Fernando Alonso incurring penalties for race start placement infringements in the first two Grand Prix of the season.

The final bit of Formula 1 drama was provided by Mercedes, who seems to take every chance it can in order to complain about how fast Red Bull’s RB19 is. But luckily, there is an age-old rivalry between Mercedes’ star driver Lewis Hamilton and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso. The Spaniard was quick to point out that the Silver Arrows had a much bigger lead at the start of the turbo-hybrid era, even taking a dig at the seven-time world champion, stating he has a short memory.