McLaren driver Lando Norris topped Free Practice 2 for the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with Red Bull racer Yuki Tsunoda causing a red flag with an avoidable crash.
With eight minutes left on the clock, Tsunoda planted his RB21 in the outside wall of the final corner, spelling an early end to the session as the clocked ticked down, with only enough time left for the usual practice starts.
It was the only major incident of an otherwise smooth second practice session in which McLaren reasserted its dominance. Norris had edged out McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri on the ferocious 6.1km Jeddah street circuit as the Briton aims to bounce back from a tough Bahrain weekend.
Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Lars Baron – Motorsport Images
After surprisingly ceding the top spot in first practice to Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Norris and Piastri never looked like anything but the fastest two cars around Jeddah, with Norris leading the early medium runs from his team-mate, by just 0.001s.
After 15 minutes Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc upped the ante with a 1m29.002s on mediums, with Tsunoda and soft-tyre runner Liam Lawson also circulating in the top five.
As the frontrunners switched to softs, world champion Max Verstappen briefly grabbed top spot with a 1m28.547s, but quickly got demoted by Piastri’s 1m28.430s.
Norris responded in kind by beating Piastri’s lap by 0.090s and then further finessing his best effort to a 1m28.267s on the same set. Verstappen’s second soft-tyre tour was better than his first but – 0.280s off Norris – still not enough to break up the McLaren hegemony at the front.
Ferrari’s Leclerc was fourth, four tenths adrift, followed by Williams man Carlos Sainz and the second Red Bull of Tsunoda, who was fourth tenths behind his illustrious team-mate before his crash. Russell, Gasly, a surprisingly quick Nico Hulkenberg and Alex Albon completed the top 10.
As often on the high-speed and blind twists on the Jeddah Corniche street circuit, traffic was a big factor, with both Verstappen and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton summoned to the stewards for allegedly impeding colleagues. Hamilton ended up in 13th after a low-key session.
Before Tsunoda’s off, Andrea Kimi Antonelli clipped the wall coming out of the same corner, prompting a quick garage call. Gabrial Bortoleto did not take part in FP2 after his Sauber team discovered a fuel leak that could not be repaired in time.
F1 Saudi Arabian GP – FP2 results
Photos from Saudi Arabian GP – Practice
In this article
Filip Cleeren
Formula 1
Be the first to know and subscribe for real-time news email updates on these topics
