After 20 minutes of FP2, Alonso had the fastest lap with a time of 1 minute, 18.887 seconds. Verstappen was in third place, 0.615 seconds behind Alonso and Leclerc.
Alonso finished second overall with two rounds completed in 2023, trailing only the Red Bull drivers in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
After pulling off the track on Lap 16 and triggering the deployment of the Safety Car, the Canadian driver quickly realised that his promising start was quickly fading.
The Spaniard has now scored consecutive podium finishes in the opening two races of the 2023 Formula One season.
The Spaniard was defiant, though, and claimed that if he had known about the fine, he would have pulled ahead of the car in back by 11 seconds.
Alonso was unhappy with the FIA's decision, stating that the stewards had a lot of time to inform his team of the decision instead of waiting till the end of the race.
The Canadian had to miss the preseason F1 testing after falling off his cycle, but he made up for it by finishing sixth in the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
The only other team to lap more than a second quicker than they did the previous year was Aston Martin.
Aston Martin got both cars in the points at the season opening 2023 Bahrain GP as Alonso finished P3 and Stroll finished P6.
Alonso passed Sainz on Lap 45 to secure his first podium finish since Qatar 2021 following a thrilling race.