Alonso leads Verstappen in second practice as Aston Martin hype grows
Aston Martin have been billed as the surprise package heading into F1 2023 and the Silverstone-based outfit have carried over their strong pre-season form into the first race weekend with Alonso topping the FP2 timesheets.
During a fascinating session held in conditions representative of qualifying and the race, Alonso was 0.169s quicker than double world champion Verstappen, with Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez 0.171s back in third place.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was a couple of tenths further back in fourth, ahead of Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was seen struggling to hold his wheel as he navigated Turn 1 at one stage as he continues to recover from a broken wrist he sustained in a cycling accident which ruled him out of pre-season testing.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton was only eighth-fastest - behind Alpine’s Esteban Ocon - with Mercedes lagging over six-tenths adrift of Alonso’s benchmark.
Lando Norris and Zhou Guanyu completed the remainder of a tightly-contested top-10 order for McLaren and Alfa Romeo respectively.
