McLaren confirmed itself as the car to beat after the first two free practice sessions on the spectacular Jeddah circuit. However, Charles Leclerc also showed good form, being the fastest with the Medium tires. After switching to Soft tires, Max Verstappen rose to third place, just behind the two MCL39s. Lewis Hamilton, still struggling, found it hard to build confidence on the track, where trust in the car is crucial. Below are the summary and results of the second Free Practice session at the Saudi Arabian GP.
FP2 Summary
FP1 was marked by a strong performance from Pierre Gasly’s Alpine. But in the Jeddah weekend, FP2 was undoubtedly the main session to prepare for the weekend, as it is the only one held at night, allowing drivers to test their cars in conditions similar to what they will experience in qualifying and the race.
In the first minutes of the session, all drivers, except for Alexander Albon, chose Medium tires. The Thai driver opted for Hard tires on his Williams.
On the first flying lap, Lando Norris immediately set the pace, placing himself at the top with a time of 1:29.272, 0.2 seconds ahead of a strong Charles Leclerc. Max Verstappen followed 0.3 seconds behind, with Piastri a full second off his teammate.
However, the first scare of the session came from Lance Stroll, who lost control of his Aston Martin after 12 minutes at the braking point of the final straight but fortunately avoided the barriers. He was able to continue, although his tire set was ruined. Lewis Hamilton then caught attention for impeding Alex Albon, and the seven-time Formula 1 world champion was under investigation and would need to appear before the stewards at the end of the session.
Oscar Piastri responded to Norris and set a new fastest time of 1:29.140, but he was no match for Charles Leclerc, who, 20 minutes into the session, topped the timesheet with a lap of 1:29.002, 0.1 seconds ahead of the Australian. Meanwhile, Norris set two sector times that were faster than anyone else before lifting off on the final sector.
Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari was clearly the fastest with Medium tires, but the serious work began in the second half of the session, when it was time to mount Soft tires for the qualifying simulation.
With the softer compound, Max Verstappen and the two McLarens took center stage. The Dutchman set the new fastest time of the session with a 1:28.547, but shortly after, the two McLaren cars crossed the line to take the top two spots. Norris set the best time of the session with 1:28.430, edging out Oscar Piastri by just 90 thousandths.
Charles Leclerc aborted his first two attempts with Soft tires after errors at the first chicane. He then returned to the pits to adjust the front wing’s angle, as the balance of the SF-25 #16 didn’t seem ideal. After returning to the track, the Monegasque improved his time, signaling that the changes made had paid off, but he remained in fourth place, 0.4 seconds behind Norris. Shortly after, Lando Norris lowered the reference again to 1:28.267.
In the final part of the session, it was time to load up with fuel for race simulations, and it was in these conditions that McLaren showed its strength. The two MCL39s were the only cars to lap consistently between 1:33 high and 1:34 low. Charles Leclerc tried to keep pace, posting lap times slightly over 1:34.5.
However, all race simulations were short-lived. With 8 minutes remaining, Yuki Tsunoda damaged his Red Bull against the barriers in the final corner. A red flag was inevitable, and the session effectively ended there. The green light came back on just a minute before the session ended, giving drivers only enough time for start practice.
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