#SaudiArabianGP FP2: @Max33Verstappen tops time-sheets. #F1

Verstappen Saudi Arabian GP FP2 – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen ended the day as he started it, fastest in the evening FP2 session at the Saudi Arabian GP ahead of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso who was second and team-mate Sergio Perez who completed the top three.

Verstappen’s time-topping benchmark of a 1:29.603 was posted on the Pirelli C4 softer compound and was 0.208 seconds quicker than Alonso with Perez a further 0.299 seconds down on his leading team-mate.

Following the earlier FP1 session before the sunset, FP2 was run at night in more representative conditions for qualifying and the Grand Prix itself, as the temperature floated around 26 degrees for the start of the hour-long session.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll began proceeding with the first time on the board, a 1:32.293, which was quickly beaten by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz who posted a 1:31.080 as the cars covered the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Sainz held P1 for the opening five minutes, fending off Alonso’s 1:31.392 effort, but was soon trounced by Verstappen.

Once the Dutchman clocked a 1:30.801, Stroll looked to be on course to eclipse his best time with a solid sector one, but his Aston Martin team-mate Alonso hit a 1:30.612.

Red Bull’s Perez then responded with a 1:30.428 to lower the benchmark down, but Verstappen’s effort was almost 0.4 seconds clear of his team-mate. This put the Dutchman back in control for the end of the opening 15 minutes, with Verstappen setting a 1:29.952.

Once the early running on the mediums and harder tyres were shed following the 20th minute-mark, qualifying simulation runs on the softs began as Alonso looked to topple Verstappen.

But his 1:29.985 on his initial soft tyre stint was just a touch shy, and Perez’s 1:29.902 on the same C4 softs was enough to put the Mexican on top of the classification.

Verstappen waited until later to complete his run on the softs, crossing over the line halfway through the session, as the Dutchman posted a 1:29.603 to be almost 0.3 seconds over team-mate Perez, but still managed to withstand a late challenge from Alonso, with the double world champion setting a 1:29.811 in another scrub soft tyre run.

With the times set, the drivers switched over for long race runs for the final part of proceedings, which set the order in stone as Verstappen topped the session, with Alonso second and Perez in third.

Despite his solid pace, Verstappen was worried that his “downshifts were really bad”, particularly at the last corner, finding latency between the gear changes during his race simulation run towards the end of FP2.

BWT Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon was fourth in the order, his effort of a 1:30.039 just narrowly 0.03 seconds quicker than Mercedes’ George Russell who rounded out the top five.

The other Alpine A523 entry of Pierre Gasly placed sixth with his 1:30.100 effort, and one hundredth of a second faster than Stroll’s AMR23.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Nico Hulkenberg took his VF-23 to eighth in the order, despite being called “a joke” by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who had a close call with the German through the last corner and found him travelling slowly on the apex.

Leclerc came ninth quickest in the classification, as Sainz completed the top ten as Ferrari struggled with pace, having ended the earlier session in seventh and 11th respectively.

Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton completed the day outside the top ten in 11th place and in-front of McLaren’s Lando Norris who took 12th, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda who came 13th in the classification and Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon who ended Free Practice 2 in 14th.

MoneyGram Haas F1 Team’s Kevin Magnussen placed 15th and ahead of Alfa Romeo’s Zhou Guanyu who was 16th and AlphaTauri’s Nyck de Vries who finished the day 17th.

Williams Racing’s Logan Sargeant ended FP2 in 18th place and in-front of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri who took 19th and Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas brought up the rear.

You can see the full Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2023 Free Practice 2 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2023/races/1142/saudi-arabia/practice-2.html

#SaudiArabianGP FP1: @Max33Verstappen heads @RedBullRacing one-two. #F1

#F1 STC #SaudiArabianGP 2023 Preview. #Formula1 #SaudiArabiaGP