#SaudiArabianGP FP2: @CharlesLeclerc fastest ahead of @Max33Verstappen. #F1

Leclerc Saudi Arabian FP2 – Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was quickest in FP2 at the Saudi Arabian GP despite hitting the wall late, and ahead of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and team-mate Carlos Sainz who completed the top three.

 

 

Season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix winner Leclerc did not continue in the final 15 minutes of the second 60 minute session after damaging the front-left track rod on his F1-75 racer.

 

The Monegasque driver clipped the turn four inside wall and had to abandon the turn five right hand sweeping corner before slowly travelling back to the pits for repairs.

 

But that came after Leclerc posted the time-topping 1:30.074 benchmark on the C4 red side-walled soft compounds and was 0.140 seconds faster than Verstappen who was unable to set a time on the softer rubber.

 

Immediately before practice two went green, drivers and team principals were called to a meeting from Formula One CEO Stefano Domenicali and Motorsport Director Ross Brawn.

 

This emergency meeting was held following the missile attack on the nearby Aramco Distribution Station during opening practice, for which Yemeni rebellion group Houthi claimed responsibility.

 

As a consequence of the meeting, FP2 was delayed by 15 minutes with only Sainz and Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN’s Valtteri Bottas seen in their respective garages.

 

Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN’s Bottas and Zhou Guanyu were the first to hit the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in the session with a flurry of cars behind them and left only the Red Bull’s in the pits.

 

Bottas was quick straight out of the box, picking up from he left off of his third place in FP1, setting the initial benchmark of a 1:31.802 on the yellow-branded C3 medium tyres.

 

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon followed over the line wound up 0.7 seconds adrift as Zhou ran 1.7 seconds slower than his team-mate before the Ferrari’s emerged.

 

Sainz used the C3 mediums to jump to the top of the order with his initial flying effort with a 1:31.382.

 

But the Spaniard was soon knocked off the top by Ferrari team-mate Leclerc, as the championship leader was the first driver to go into the 1:30’s.

 

Leclerc’s 1:30.216 on the medium rubber gave him a 1.1 second gap, despite some over-steer as Sainz complained of porpoising.

 

Leclerc then kept his run consistent, lapping within 0.15 seconds of his personal best effort as he was quickest in all three sectors.

 

It was not until six minutes in that Red Bull finally emerged on the C3 medium tyres, leaving Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon, Aston Martin’s Nico Hulkenberg, and Alpine’s Fernando Alonso as the only drivers who were running the harder white-branded C2 harder compounds.

 

The times remained stable for the next 15 minutes before Verstappen eclipsed ahead on the classification by two thousandths of a second over Leclerc.

 

After the Dutchman’s first time was 1.074 adrift of Leclerc, the reigning world champion hit a 1:30.214 to go fastest before everyone put on the softs for their qualifying simulation runs.

 

Leclerc was able to take back P1 as the benchmark was lowered to a 1:30.074 over the Red Bull driver, also beating his opening practice benchmark by seven tenths (1:30.772).

 

Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was the other mover as he rose from 14th to fifth, behind Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, but in-front of his team-mate George Russell.

 

The seven-time world champion posted a 1:30.513, having stopped early in the proceedings for a seat to sit higher in his F1 W13 racer.

 

But then the running was interrupted following the deployment of the virtual safety car thanks to the Haas F1 Team VF-22 entry of Kevin Magnussen stopping due to a power-unit issue halfway round his flyer to be recovered.

 

This ended the Dane’s difficult day, after a solid fifth place in Bahrain.

 

Magnussen complained of a power loss in the earlier stages before getting the all-clear to push, after not being able to set a time in FP1, due to a hydraulics problem.

 

Sainz in the other Ferrari also clipped the wall during the session, with the Spaniard letting his F1-75 racer run wide and into the outside barrier on the banked turn 13.

 

Behind the two Mercedes, McLaren’s Lando Norris was seventh in the order and ahead of Alpine’s Ocon who took eighth, Alfa Romeo’s Bottas in ninth and AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda rounding out the top ten.

 

Alpine’s Alonso ended FP2 outside the top ten in 11th and in-front of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly who came 12th on the time-sheets, Haas F1 Team’s Schumacher who ended second practice in 13th and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll taking 14th.

 

McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo finished FP2 in 15th and ahead of Aston Martin’s Hulkenberg who was 16th in the classification and Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN’s Zhou who took 17th in the order.

 

Williams Racing pairing Nicholas Latifi and Albon ended the day 18th and 19th respectively with the aforementioned Magnussen bringing up the rear.

 

You can see the full Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2022 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2022/races/1125/saudi-arabia/practice-2.html

 

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#SaudiArabianGP FP1: @CharlesLeclerc pips @Max33Verstappen to top time-sheets. #F1

#Formula1 STC #SaudiArabianGP 2022 Preview – #F1 #SaudiArabiaGP