Aston Martin showed its great speed on Friday in Melbourne, in the second free practice consultation for this weekend’s Australian Grand Prix, the third round of the 2024 world championship.
Lance Stroll ended the day in fourth position with a time of 1:17. 822, putting him just over second overall leader Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari.
Meanwhile, Fernando Alonso was just him in P5, despite being almost a tenth behind his young teammate’s pace. But both drivers were pleased to be ahead of Mercedes and McLaren on the timesheets.
The team brought new front wings to Albert Park and gathered valuable insights into their functionality during the two one-hour sessions.
“The car felt smart today,” Stroll said after the end of the day of track activity. “I’m pleased with the effects and we had an undeniable day, gathering a lot of information.
“We’ve been pretty smart on a lap this season, so it’s positive to see that we kept that speed here,” he continued. “But let’s keep our feet on the ground because it’s just a relaxed practice. “
“We don’t know what the others are doing,” he said. However, it’s been a positive start to the weekend and I’m looking forward to getting back in the car for qualifying tomorrow. “
Alonso was one of several drivers who had a “moment” practice and went off the track due to the slippery, bumpy nature of the transient street circuit, coupled with strong gusts of wind.
Alonso needed a dirt replacement on his car after his temperamental moment, which meant he took 18th place in early practice, before returning to the top in the afternoon.
“It’s tricky here at Albert Park,” said the F1 veteran. “The track slips a lot and the grip is replaced. This led to me going through the gravel at Turn 10 in FP1, so we had to replace the floor during the session.
“Our programme was compromised a bit by that, but FP2 went well and we achieved everything we set out to do,” he continued.
It’s satisfying to be on the more sensible timesheet, but we probably wouldn’t draw any conclusions from today because it’s just a vague practice and there are still a lot of variables to consider.
“We now have a lot of knowledge to analyse in order to have a chance of getting a positive result in qualifying,” he added.
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