As in the first free practice session, which had seen the Dutchman ahead of his teammate Sergio Perez, Max Verstappen was again the fastest on Friday evening during the EL2 of the Saudi Arabian GP. However, Fernando Alonso limited the damage by finishing just two tenths behind the double world champion.
Suffering from stomach aches, Max Verstappen had joined the paddock one day after the others. The Dutchman quickly made up for lost time. Fastest driver, earlier in the day, during the first free practice session of the Saudi Arabian GP, 2nd round of the season, the double world champion still turned faster than everyone, this Friday evening on the Jeddah track during the second free practice session of the day.
However, if the leader of the Red Bull team, who had beaten his Mexican teammate Sergio Perez by half a second in EL1, still made a very strong impression, he did not dominate his competitors by the same margin. More exactly, Fernando Alonso resisted him much better than Perez had been able to do at the start of the afternoon, French time. Third in EL1, the immortal double Spanish world champion who was on the podium a fortnight ago in Bhareïn this time set the second time, just two tenths behind Verstappen.
The French show themselves
The Aston Martin shone, the Alpines too. At the wheel of the old single-seater of Alonso, the French Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly respectively offered the 4th and 6th times of the session. Only George Russell (Mercedes) came between our two representatives. On the side of Ferrari, it is not better. Charles Leclerc (9th), who once again communicated a lot with his team to find out how to solve the problems, and Carlos Sainz (10th) close the march of the Top 10. What Lewis Hamilton cannot even boast, only 11th and who complained a lot about his car’s grip problems.
All but good news for the seven-time world champion, who has probably not forgotten that on the same circuit last year he had his very first elimination in Q1 since 2009. A nightmare that the one who ended on the sidelines from that first day of testing to his collaboration with his historic physiotherapist Angela Cullen would obviously like not to live again.
