Red Bull’s Max Verstappen emerged fastest across both Friday Practice sessions at 2023 Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne.
Verstappen set the fastest time across both sessions in FP1 with 1m 18.790 despite having to navigate a chaotic session, in which traffic proved tricky on top of two red flags.
FP2 though saw rain cause massive disruption amidst a frantic start as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso emerged quickest.
FP1
At lights out, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was first on track and set the initial benchmark time of 1m 25.314 which swiftly was bettered by several drivers, as Oscar Piastri, Pierre Gasly and Lance Stroll soon displaced him with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton following suit.
Red Bull however quickly established their dominant pace once more as Perez topped the opening nine minutes with 1m 20.267, only for Verstappen on soft tyres to post 1m 19.332 in the 10th minute as several drivers opted for a hard or medium tyre opening stint.
Perez briefly displaced Verstappen in the 16th minute with 1m 19.293 but the two-time champion immediately hit back to go quickest by 0.015 seconds, before he eventually lowered the benchmark to a session-topping 1m 18.790 in a busy session.
Various drivers including Verstappen and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda encountered spins across the session, whilst Stroll on his flying lap was lucky to avoid ploughing into several cars around Turn 12 due to a loss of GPS preventing drivers on slow laps from getting out of the way.
Stewards consequently were forced to throw the red flag in the 37th minute to avoid a serious accident between those on flying laps and others who were on slow laps.
The session resumed ten minutes later with Verstappen first out on track as some opted for brief race simulations, whilst others improved including Lewis Hamilton who finished second-fastest ahead of Perez, Fernando Alonso, Charles Leclerc, Sainz, Lando Norris, Gasly, George Russell and Stroll.
Perez, Stroll, Alex Albon, Nyck De Vries and Tsunoda however all set their quickest lap times on the medium tyre, after failing to find improvement on the soft tyre due to mistakes.
Williams’ Logan Sargeant brought the session to an early finish with four minutes left on the clock after he lost power and stopped on track.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 18.790 |
| 2 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.433 |
| 3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.503 |
| 4 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.527 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.588 |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.715 |
| 7 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.746 |
| 8 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.856 |
| 9 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.909 |
| 10 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.976 |
| 11 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.976 |
| 12 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.987 |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 1.016 |
| 14 | Nyck De Vries | AlphaTauri | + 1.143 |
| 15 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 1.284 |
| 16 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.385 |
| 17 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.609 |
| 18 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 1.629 |
| 19 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 1.779 |
| 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 2.357 |
FP2
Like in FP1, Sainz was first out on track as a queue of drivers rapidly ventured out to complete their individual tasks quickly, due to rain steadily sweeping across the circuit as the clouds darkened.
Sainz proceeded to set a benchmark time of 1m 20.378 on medium tyres in the third minute but was soon displaced by Leclerc and Verstappen, as the Dutchman posted 1m 19.759 to go top in the fifth minute.
Sain though bettered Verstappen’s time two minutes later but Alonso went top just moments later with 1m 18.887, which wouldn’t be beaten as rain eventually hit the circuit in the 13th minute and steadily soaked the circuit.
Alonso consequently finished fastest from Leclerc and Verstappen as everyone scurried back to their garages as the rain worsened, although Sainz and Russell went back out in the 26th on soft and intermediate tyres respectively with Sainz initially on the correct tyre until conditions worsened.
Fastest lap times however were set on a variety of slick tyres with majority set on medium tyres except for Russell, Norris, Hulkenberg, Gasly, Tsunoda, Hamilton, Stroll and De Vries who set their times on the hard tyres.
Perez and Albon meanwhile set their fastest lap times on the soft tyres in what proved to be a largely unrepresentative session, which in-turn sets up a busy FP3 prior to Qualifying tomorrow (1 April).
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 1m 18.887 |
| 2 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.445 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.615 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.785 |
| 5 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.808 |
| 6 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.838 |
| 7 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 1.196 |
| 8 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.289 |
| 9 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 1.307. |
| 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.319 |
| 11 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 1.333 |
| 12 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 1.425 |
| 13 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 1.436 |
| 14 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 1.493 |
| 15 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 1.583 |
| 16 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.692 |
| 17 | Nyck De Vries | AlphaTauri | + 1.713 |
| 18 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 2.295 |
| 19 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 2.379 |
| 20 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | No Time |