His time looked ominous, although Alonso got to within 0.2s of the Dutchman’s time to split the two Red Bulls at the top of the timing order in the daylight session – like last weekend, in conditions not entirely representative of those set to be experienced in the night-time qualifying and race.
Breezy conditions at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, with a 20km/h headwind along the main straight according to Carlos Sainz’s radio traffic, ensured that the back end of the circuit added further challenge to the sweeping corners in the second and third sectors.
In their exploratory laps around the circuit, the field was split between the medium and hard tyres; Pirelli had selected C3 and C2 respectively for this weekend to mirror last year’s tyre allocations.
Russell posted the best lap in the opening half-hour, going top with a 1m30.806s before whittling it down to a 1m30.554s to throw down a benchmark.
By a scant 0.003s, Russell reclaimed his position at the top of the timing board and sat there for about five minutes, before Verstappen once again laid down the gauntlet with the first time below the 90-second mark – which ultimately proved to be the fastest lap of the session.
George Russell, Mercedes F1 W15
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Russell managed to draw closer with a 1m29.939s on his next lap in an attempt to fortify the runner-up spot, but Perez’s 1m29.868s proved enough to move up to second.
Alonso, who had looked competitive in the earlier hard-tyre running, posted a 1m29.845s to beat Perez – whom he diced with for the lead in the early stages of last year’s race.
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