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Verstappen produces the quickest time of anyone in the middle sector as he goes second behind the McLaren drivers.
Drivers overwhelmingly favouring the soft tyres so far in this session which suggests they don’t expect to need them in the grand prix.
Yuki Tsunoda only 17th after his first run, he went very wide at the final corner so had absolutely no danger of hitting the barrier on the inside as he did yesterday.
Norris does the fastest first sector time and goes second, 0.158s off his team mate.
Piastri takes over at the top with a 1’28.605 and now leads by 0.255s from Leclerc.
Charles Leclerc improves to a 1’28.860 putting him 0.217s ahead of Verstappen.
Hamilton improves to a 1’29.188. Alonso grabs a slipstream from the Ferrari to begin a lap.
Verstappen looks fully committed on that lap and he goes fastest of all through the first two sectors to go top with a 1’29.077, just four hundredths of a second up on the McLarens.
Max Verstappen, who was not far off the McLarens yesterday, begins a lap now.
Norris can’t beat Piastri with that lap but there’s less than a tenth of a second in it. Bearman goes third, three tenths off.
Oscar Piastri lowers the best time to a 1’29.118 putting him 0.548s ahead of Doohan.
Charles Leclerc slots into third, then Doohan goes top with a 1’29.666.
Hamilton does the fastest first sector time at 32.984, Leclerc one tenth off that as he begins a lap behind him. Hamilton only ends up second to Bearman though with a 1’30.367.
Bearman set the fastest time with a 1’30.252. “The front axle is way stronger than yesterday,” he reports. “That’s a good thing.”
Less than 10 minutes into the session Lewis Hamilton has already joined the track. He’s not looked particularly comfortable in his Ferrari so far this weekend.
Doohan will be investigated after the session for failing to follow the race director’s instructions.
Jack Doohan, who hasn’t been able to match the strong lap times of his team mate Pierre Gasly this weekend (possibly related to the fact Gasly has a fresh Renault engine) is also on-track early and sets the early pace with a 1’30.613 on softs.
The final practice session is go at Jeddah and unsurprisingly Gabriel Bortoleto immediately hits the track, having lost so much running yesterday due to the fuel leak which kept him out of the second session.
Third practice for the 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is coming up next.
