Former world champion Fernando Alonso set the best time in the rainy second Formula 1 practice session before the Australian Grand Prix.

Before the rain got heavier in Melbourne, the 41-year-old Spaniard landed in his Aston Martin in 1:18.887 minutes, a good four-tenths of a second ahead of Vice World Champion Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari. World champion Max Verstappen took third place in the Red Bull. As expected, the Dutchman was unbeatable in the first practice session on a dry track.

The wet conditions made a normal practice session three and a half hours later impossible. Before it got wet, the teams hastily tried to do fast laps. Then the rain slowly got heavier and the dry tires could no longer be used. As a result, the times on the course in Albert Park were not very meaningful overall. Nico Hülkenberg finished ninth in the Haas racing car.

Before the third race of the season on Sunday (7:00 a.m. CEST/Sky), where dry conditions and sunshine are expected again, Verstappen leads the overall standings by one point over Perez. So far, both have won one Grand Prix each. Third is Alonso, Hülkenberg is still waiting for his first World Cup point of the year.