F1, Red Bull and Aston Martin close in FP2 of the Saudi Arabian GP. Ferrari works for the race

Another lap, another showdown by Max Verstappen. The double world champion, in fact, he also finished the second free practice session of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in the lead, second round of the 2023 Formula One World Championship, confirming himself as the big favorite again this weekend, after Sakhir’s sparkling debut.

Under the spotlights on the Jeddah track, the Red Bull team rider he finished with a time of 1:29.603 on soft tyreswith a lead of 208 thousandths on Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) and 299 on Sergio Perez (Red Bull). Fourth position for the French Esteban Ocon (Alpine) at 436 thousandths, fifth for George Russell (Mercedes) at 467, while the French is sixth Pierre Gasly (Alpine) at 497. Seventh position for the Canadian Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) at 507 thousandths, octave for German Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) at 578, then ninth Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) at 738, while completing the top 10 Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) at 989 ahead of Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) a 996.

In the first part of the session the riders lapped with the medium tires e Max Verstappen impressed also in this case, finishing in 1:29.952 with 476 thousandths of a second on Sergio Perez, 660 on Fernando Alonso and 676 on Pierre Gasly. Seventh Charles Leclerc at 964, then eighth Lance Stroll at 1.044, ninth Lewis Hamilton at 1.055, tenth Carlos Sainz at 1.128 and 11th George Russell at 1.425.

In the final part of FP2 we witnessed the usual race pace simulations con Fernando Alonso with exceptional pace between 1:35.0 and 1:35.3, on the times of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. Ferraris also do very well with Charles Leclerc always between 1:35.1 and 1:35.5 e Carlos Sainz between 1:34.9 and 1:35.5. A pinch further back Mercedes con Lewis Hamilton e George Russell with a step on the 1:35 medium-high, while also surprising the Alpine with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly still at 1:35, but in this case the two French single-seaters could have run with a smaller quantity of petrol.

STANDINGS FP2 SAUDI ARABIAN GP 2023 – F1

1 Max VERSTAPPEN Red Bull Racing1:29.603 3
2 Fernando ALONSO Aston Martin+0.208 4
3 Sergio PEREZ Red Bull Racing+0.299 3
4 Esteban OCON Alpine+0.436 3
5 George RUSSELL Mercedes+0.467 4
6 Pierre GASLY Alpine+0.497 3
7 Lance STROLL Aston Martin+0.507 3
8 Nico HULKENBERG Haas F1 Team+0.578 3
9 Charles LECLERC Ferrari+0.738 3
10 Carlos SAINZ Ferrari+0.989 3
11 Lewis HAMILTON Mercedes+0.996 4
12 Lando NORRIS McLaren+1.118 3
13 Yuki TSUNODA AlphaTauri+1.173 4
14 Alexander ALBON Williams+1.207 4
15 Kevin MAGNUSSEN Haas F1 Team+1.217 3
16 Guanyu ZHOU Alfa Romeo+1.234 5
17 Nyck DE VRIES AlphaTauri+1.318 3
18 Logan SARGEANT Williams+1.356 4
19 Oscar PIASTRI McLaren+1.361 4
20 Valtteri BOTTAS Alfa Romeo+1.449 4