Fernando Alonso was fastest of all in the second practice session for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Following a 10-minute delay to the start of the session – reported to be due to a loose drain cover – a full hour of running took place uninterrupted, with Alonso going quickest with a 1’28.827 on the soft tyres.
George Russell was almost a quarter of a second slower than the Aston Martin driver in seconds, with Max Verstappen third, another tenth of a second behind.
Charles Leclerc was fourth fastest for Ferrari, with Sergio Perez fifth and Lance Stroll sixth in the second Aston Martin. Carlos Sainz Jnr was seventh ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Pierre Gasly and Oscar Piastri rounding out the top ten.
Hamilton will be investigated by the stewards following a potentially dangerous incident at turn 11. The Mercedes had backed off through the fast sequence of sweepers in the opening sector to allow Carlos Sainz Jnr through, but the Ferrari also slowed. Williams driver Logan Sargeant arrived behind the pair and had to run off-track to avoid hitting Hamilton, kicking up sparks as he hit a kerb at speed.
“What Hamilton did there is super-dangerous,” Sainz told his team over the radio. “He was in the middle, he could have got out of the way. Sargeant nearly crashed because of him.”
Lance Stroll was shown the black-and-white warning flag, as Pierre Gasly was in the earlier session, for failing to follow race director Niels Wittich’s orders to not touch the painted areas along the pit straight between the pit lane and the race track.
Valtteri Bottas was the only driver to suffer a significant off when he spun at turn one without hitting anything. Each driver covered between 22 and 29 laps, with Gasly and Daniel Ricciardo getting the most laps in and Hamilton the fewest after complaining of a loss of power in his car late in the session.
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2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix second practice result
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2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
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