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Formula 1
Australian GP
F1 Australian GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 & FP2
Friday's action from the third round of the 2023 Formula 1 season
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The 2023 F1 season heads to Australia with Red Bull in the ascendency after extending its 100% winning start to the year following Sergio Perez’s victory in Saudi Arabia.
After following Perez to the chequered flag two weeks ago, reigning world champion and Bahrain GP winner Max Verstappen holds a one point lead from his team-mate after snatching a valuable fastest lap point in Jeddah.
All eyes will be on what Red Bull’s rivals can do to halt their charge at Albert Park, a venue the Milton Keynes operation hasn’t tasted victory since Sebastian Vettel’s 2011 triumph.
Australian GP first practice begins at 2:30am BST followed by second practice which starts at 6:00am BST. Qualifying takes place on Saturday at 6:00am BST to decide the starting grid for the race on Sunday at 6:00am BST.
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Perez misses out on the top spot when he gets stuck behind Lance Stroll and ends up 0.3s slower than Verstappen. But the benchmark is soon lowered by Alonso's 1m18.887s, with the drivers on their second laps improving. Sainz also bounds back up to second.
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But Sainz's tenure at the top is brief. We now have Verstappen sitting pretty on the top spot with a 1m19.759s ahead of Leclerc on 1m20.138s. Perez used his first lap on the softs to warm them up, so expect a flyer this time around.
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Alonso is his nearest challenger so far on a 1m20.427s, also using medium tyres on his Aston.
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It's Sainz who puts the first time on the board using the medium tyres, a 1m20.378s the lap to beat.
It's a busy start to the session, with all bar Magnussen and the two Williams leaving the pits in the early moments. Perez appears to be the sole soft tyre runner at this stage with the bulk of the field using hard or mediums.
Green flag
FP2 is go, and it's Carlos Sainz who leads the field out. He had a terrible time here last year spinning out early, and will be keen to make amends in 2023.
Drivers are strapped into their cars and ready to go. Given the close proximity of the walls increases the opportunity for red flags here, teams are unlikely to want to waste the chance to get some long runs under their belts.
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Just a little over three minutes to go. Are we ready?
Fingers crossed that the GPS outage which caused huge traffic problems and ultimately a nine-minute red flag won't be repeated again, so we can see uninterrupted running as cars build up towards qualifying tomorrow. A second red flag when Logan Sargeant's Williams shut off brought an early end to FP1.
In case you missed the earlier FP1 action, it was Max Verstappen who led the way for Red Bull - but he didn't enjoy a totally clean session, with a lurid spin exiting Turn 4 and a few hairy moments. Lewis Hamilton moved up to second late on for Mercedes to split the Red Bulls, but was still over four tenths down on his 2021 title rival.
It's an overcast afternoon in Melbourne, where air temperatures are 16.6 °C. Track temps are only a little warmer, at 26.9 °C.
Rain
A light drizzle before the start of the Supercars race meant the track was declared wet, and we've been informed there's a 40% chance of rain for FP2. Likely, but don't bet your house on it.
We've just had the second Supercars race of the weekend, claimed by first-time winner Brodie Kostecki, and it saw a return of a starting feature from yesteryear. The start lights failed, so the Australian flag was used to get the field underway!
Good morning all, welcome back to Autosport's live coverage of track action from Albert Park ahead of FP2 in a little under 15 minutes time.
We'll take a quick breather now but never fear, we'll be back before the second practice action starts at 6am BST.
Breaking news
Here's the full report of opening practice: https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/f1-australian-gp-verstappen-fastest-but-spins-in-first-practice/10450604/
So, an eventful first practice due to two red flags, a few spins and near-misses, but one thing remained the same: Verstappen on top.
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Just before this session-ending red flag, Hamilton popped up to second place on the times with a late lap on the softs of 1m19.223s to go 0.433s off Verstappen.
Mechanical problem
The American appears to suffer a complete power loss as he grinds to a halt when he pulls onto the grass after crawling through Turn 11. That'll be it for this session as FP1 will not be resumed.
Red flag
Sargeant has come to a stop on the exit of Turn 11, as he reports his car has shutdown, which brings out another red flag.
Yellow flag
Verstappen has spun at the exit of Turn 4! It isn't often you see that. He gets going again but has wrecked those tyres.
Stopwatch
Norris is a late improver in this session as he goes sixth quickest with a 1m19.536s.
Verstappen makes his Red Bull the most expensive lawnmower in Australia as he clips the grass edge on the exit of Turn 1.
17 cars on track, just both Ferraris and Tsunoda missing. Plenty of work going on in the garages for that trio.
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Lights green
The timing screen kicks into life to state the session will restart in under 60 seconds. Off we go again.
To give the official explanation for the red flag, here's the latest from the FIA: "There is a GPS issue currently and the red flag is necessary for safety reasons with teams not being able to monitor car position and closing speed."
GPS issues, that's got to be a new one in the book of reasons for a red flag?
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Just before that red flag, Alonso popped up to third place with a 1m19.317s to go half a second off overall leader Verstappen.
Ah, the red flag is actually due to a lack of GPS data at the track, which explains why there has been so many near-misses with traffic in this session.
Red flag
Red flag! It might be due to gravel and general muck on the track from the few offs by Tsunoda and Magnussen which will need clearing up.
Magnussen goes wide on the exit of Turn 10 and drifts on to the grass run-off. It is all happening now!
Yellow flag
Tsunoda has gone off at Turn 1! He carries too much speed and his AlphaTauri spins on him to send him bouncing through the gravel and grass. He's so lucky to avoid the barrier and serious damage.
Perez, on his first flying lap on the softs, gets his Red Bull drifting out of Turn 3 but has to back out of the lap as he takes to the gravel.
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Here come the Ferrari pair on the softs, Leclerc leading Sainz into third and fourth. The Monegasque is still nearly six-tenths off Verstappen, mind.
By: Autosport Staff
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