Bahrain Grand Prix winner Max Verstappen began his weekend in Saudi Arabia as the fastest driver in Free Practice 1, while Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso emerged at the top in the day’s second session.
Verstappen’s 1:29.695 in the opening outing was set on soft tyres and two-tenths quicker than second-best Alonso. Sergio Perez was third fastest, two-hundredths behind the Spanish driver.
A strong headwind down the main straight made for a challenging outing in the daylight session, with the field initially taking to the track on mediums or hards.
Russell set the benchmark in the opening 30 minutes, setting a 1:30.554 to hold the top spot.
Lando Norris and Verstapen went on the better this in their first outings on softs before the Mercedes driver returned to the top by just 0.003 seconds.
Verstappen’s quickest lap came shortly after, and he was the first to go under the 90-second barrier. Russell followed suit a lap later to slot into second before Perez bettered his time to fall behind his teammate.
Alonso’s late 1:29.845 pipped the Mexican’s 1:29.868 to take the runner-up position, pushing Russell to fourth. He finished the session ahead of the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, the latter of whom is battling illness.
Lando Norris was the first McLaren, 0.572 seconds behind Verstappen in seventh and 0.005 seconds ahead of Lewis Hamilton in eighth.
Lance Stroll grazed the Turn 21 wall early in the session and required repairs to his front-left wheel cover before recovering for ninth.
Alex Albon completed the top ten, ahead of Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo, who set his best time on mediums.
Alonso went one better in the second session, completed under lights, setting a 1:28.827 to better Russell by two-tenths.
The start of FP2 was delayed by 10 minutes to check the pit lane drain covers.
Bottas was an early spinner in the session, while Oscar Piastri’s 1:32.956 was the initial benchmark.
A host of others quickly bettered this time, and Alonso was the first to go under the 1:30 barrier with a 1:29.846 on mediums.
The Aston Martin driver continued to improve his time as Verstappen briefly moved to the top, and his qualifying simulation lap of 1:28.827 at the 25-minute mark would remain unchallenged.
Hamilton was found to have impeded Logan Sargeant after the mid-way phase and copped a warning, while Mercedes was fined for the infringement.
The final stage of the session was used for data gathering, with little change on the time sheets.
Verstappen ended FP2 in third, behind Russell and ahead of Leclerc.
Perez was fifth, and Stroll, Sainz, Hamilton, Pierre Gasly, and Piastri completed the top ten.
Formula 1 returns for FP3 at 2.10 am on Saturday (NZ time), followed by qualifying at 5.10 am. The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix begins at 6.00 am on Sunday.
All sessions will be shown live on Sky Sport.
Header Image: Aston Martin
