Verstappen Tops The Field In FP1 with Alonso On Top In FP2.
Max Verstappen set the pace during Thursday afternoon’s opening free practice hour for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, slotting ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez.
Verstappen trailed Mercedes rival George Russell by 0.003s after the first soft-tyre runs midway through the session but the reigning world champion improved to a 1m 29.659s with his second effort to provisionally pull clear.
Verstappen remained quickest as the final laps rolled in, just under two-tenths clear of Alonso, with Perez a couple of hundredths further back and Russell rounding out the top four for the Silver Arrows.
Ferrari pair Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz followed in fifth and sixth respectively, with the latter making it to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit just in time after missing Wednesday’s media duties due to illness.
Lando Norris was the fastest of the McLaren drivers in seventh position, followed by the other Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton, the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll – who survived a brush with the wall early on – and the Williams of Alex Albon.
Kick Sauber’s charge was led by Valtteri Bottas in 11th position, with team mate Zhou Guanyu back in P18 after saving a wild slide at the start of his soft-tyre run and losing a chunk of time as he backed out.
Daniel Ricciardo took 12th for RB, setting his best time on mediums, with Esteban Ocon 13th as Alpine look to make progress after their painful season-opener in Bahrain and the latest set of staff changes that saw both their Technical Director and Head of Aerodynamics move on.
Logan Sargeant and Oscar Piastri were a chunk away from their Williams and McLaren team mates in P14 and P15 respectively, with Yuki Tsunoda 16th in the other RB as he also used the yellow-marked medium tires for his best lap.
P17 went to Pierre Gasly in the second of the Alpine machines, from the aforementioned Zhou and Haas pair Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen who, like the RB drivers, logged their fastest times on mediums.
“The practice sessions today have been pretty good overall," said Verstappen post practice. “The pace has been good on both the long and short runs and they have prepared the track well for a street circuit. Overall, we learnt a lot and there are always things you look to do better on a one lap performance. We know some other teams have a bit more power on the one lap so we’ll look into the data to try and improve our overall performance and extract as much as we can from this. Looking to qualifying I am feeling good; it will be tight but we are happy with our performance today and looking forward to tomorrow."
JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA - MARCH 07: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull Racing RB20 on track during practice ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia at Jeddah Corniche Circuit on March 07, 2024 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Mark Thompson/Getty Images) // Getty Images / Red Bull Content Pool // SI202403070628 // Usage for editorial use only //
Fernando Alonso ended Thursday’s running at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on top after setting the fastest lap in second practice, leading the way from George Russell and Max Verstappen.
Following a 10-minute delay to the start of the session, the lights went green for FP2 in conditions more representative of those we’ll see in Saturday night’s race, after FP1 took place in hotter and more humid temperatures.
Most cars were quick to hit the track under the floodlights in a busy start to the hour, but it wasn’t an entirely smooth start for some, with Valtteri Bottas suffering an early spin after locking up into Turn 1.
Elsewhere, the stewards confirmed that they will investigate a potential impeding incident between Lewis Hamilton and Logan Sargeant after the session, with the Williams having to take avoiding action after encountering the slow-moving Mercedes.
As the qualifying runs on the soft tyre came in, it was Alonso who set the pace on a 1m 28.827s. This time remained on top as drivers switched to long runs during the latter half of the session, with the Spaniard’s lap putting him 0.230s ahead of Russell.
Verstappen – who had earlier set the pace in FP1 – slotted into third, ahead of Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez in fourth and fifth respectively. Lance Stroll added to Aston Martin’s productive session in sixth, though was issued with a black and white flag for a track limits infringement later on.
Carlos Sainz, Hamilton – who reported having no power in the final minutes – Pierre Gasly and Oscar Piastri rounded out the top 10.
