SAUDI ARABIAN GP – Lando Norris leads a McLaren one-two by a tenth and a half in second practice
Lando Norris led a McLaren one-two after going over a tenth and a half faster than teammate Oscar Piastri in second practice ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The Englishman set a 28.267 during the qualifying simulation to put himself fastest just after the forty-minute mark, while Piastri backed out of his final run when Norris went faster.
McLaren had looked to be the team to beat going into this weekend, with Max Verstappen just under three-tenths off in third. Though McLaren didn’t top the times in FP1, they did look quick with Norris being the fastest of the leading drivers which he would have wanted after a ‘messy’ weekend in Sakhir.
The two McLaren’s are likely to remain the team to beat however this street circuit can throw up all kinds of surprises and they need to get it right. Piastri was one of serval drivers to clip the wall but avoided any lasting drama. The Woking-based team looked to be the fastest both on single lap and on long run pace, with the Australian’s long run nearly a second faster than Verstappen.
Verstappen was two-tenths behind Piastri with the Red Bull looking competitive in the evening session as the Dutchman goes into this weekend looking for his third win in Jeddah. But the question will be can he stay with the McLaren’s and find that last little bit which will be needed in qualifying when the track ramps up.
Meanwhile, Verstappen’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda brought the meaningful running to an end as he hit the inside wall breaking the link between the steering and front-axle sending him into the wall at the final corner. Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton have been called to the stewards for allegedly impeding.
Tsunoda’s crash cut sort the race simulations, but given what was seen in terms of lap time and performance backs up the expectations of McLaren having a sizeable advantage over Red Bull and Ferrari. This isn’t much of a surprise given their advantage in recent races.
Red Bull appears more comfortable at the smoother high-speed Jeddah Corniche Circuit, though Ferrari is a bit unknown Charles Leclerc’s soft run was interrupted by traffic meaning his fastest time was on the medium. It again looks to be tight behind McLaren, with eight tenths between Verstappen in third and Kimi Antonelli in eleventh, with Lewis Hamilton just over that.
Leclerc put his Ferrari fourth as he was two-tenths behind Verstappen and just under half a second off the outright pace set by Norris. The Monacan put his car nearly two-tenths faster than his former teammate Carlos Sainz, who once again highlighted the strength of the Williams at high-speed and downforce circuits.
Sainz was two hundredths faster than Tsunoda in sixth, while George Russell put his Mercedes a hundredth behind the Red Bull. Russell did complain during the session about “high-speed bouncing.”
Pierre Gasly couldn’t match his pace which saw him top FP1 he put his Alpine eighth, the Frenchman over a tenth behind Russell as he was also nearly a tenth faster than Nico Hulkenberg. Alex Albon completed the top ten going almost three hundredths behind the Sauber.
Antonelli put his Mercedes eleventh the Italian missing out on the top ten by six hundredths as he went ahead of Isack Hadjar, the Racing Bull having a similar margin over Hamilton. The seven-time champion split two Racing Bulls as he went over a tenth faster than Liam Lawson.
He was also over a second off Norris’s fastest time but was cleared following an investigation into whether he impeded Albon in the first sector during the qualifying simulations.
Fernando Alonso put his Aston Martin fifteenth, the two two-time champion was just under a tenth behind the New Zealander as he was nearly a tenth ahead of the Haas of Ollie Bearman. Jack Doohan was nearly a tenth faster than Lance Stroll who was a hundredth faster than Esteban Ocon.
Gabriel Bortoleto was the only driver not to take part in FP2 after a fuel leak at the end of FP1 which Sauber were unable to repair, meaning the F2 champion watched from the pit wall.