At the start on the Saudi circuit of Jeddah la second free practice session. In FP1 the podium of Bahrain was repeated, with Verstappen in first place followed by Perez e Alonso. The two Ferrari they finished seventh with Sainz and eleventh with Leclerc, but without trying real launched spins. We also recall that Leclerc will start with 10 penalty positions on the grid for having used the third ECU of the season (the allowed limit is 2).
The session report
The first 20 minutes went smoothly: all the riders used the yellow tyres, the medium compound, and the top 3 from the morning session was repeated, with the two Alpines of Gasly and Ocon right behind. With about 40 minutes left to go until the checkered flag, Alonso breaks the deadlock and puts on the soft tires to start the race. qualification simulation.
Qualifying simulation: Red Bull and Alonso at the top in Jeddah
As more cars on the track, so do the number of laps aborted: before Alonso, then Leclerc and finally also Verstappen. After the first laps launched with the softs, Alonso he puts himself in second position to divide the two Red Bull, Followed by Or with, Russell e gasly.
THEAlpine it seems the fifth force on this track and aims for the first "clean" weekend of the season, after the roller coaster in Bahrain in which Gasly and Ocon had a positive day and a nightmare each. Returning to the standings with about 20 minutes to go, Stroll in seventh position it precedes the three powered by Ferrari Hulkenberg, Leclerc e Sainz, with Hamilton eleventh.
After P7 and P11 in the first free practice session, the situation doesn't seem to improve for the Reds. There is, however, the hope that the two pilots are hiding and above all the awareness of being able to do one step ahead on race day. Jeddah asphaltIn fact, it is not as abrasive as that of Bahrain and consequently the SF-23 tire management problem should be less evident.
Mario Isola, Pirelli's motorsport director, is also sure of this who, in connection with Sky Sport F1, revealed that the Sakhir circuit is among the worst on the calendar in terms of asphalt abrasiveness and that the same problem could going back to tracks like Monza or Montréal.
Race pace simulation: close three-way fight
With about 15 minutes to go, all teams move their programs to the race pace simulation. Ferrari runs on the times of Red Bull, with a slightly more accentuated degradation but demonstrating that the qualifying tests were carried out without using all the engine power and also with a considerable fuel load.
Aston Martin is in the fight and there are what it takes to see, unlike Bahrain, a three-way fight this Sunday. Mercedes, for now, still seems far away and Toto Wolff, interviewed live on the microphones of Sky Sport F1, admits. “We have all made mistakes, starting with me who is the boss”. The Brackley team even looks like it at Alpine level, with which the role of fourth force could be played this weekend.
Here the final classification of FP2. The appointment is tomorrow at 14 pm for the third free practice session, the last one before qualifying at 30 pm!
