Saudi Arabia Grand Prix – Free Practice 2: Lewis Hamilton leads the way, Charles Leclerc falls flat

The first 20 minutes

The drivers were back on the track in Jeddah, but this time for a session under the circuit lights. The majority of the drivers focused on testing the soft tires (yellow) brought by the supplier Pirelli. In this little game, Max Verstappen set the fastest time right away with 1:30.104.

🚁📸 @SaudiArabianGP #SaudiArabianGP 🇸🇦 #F1 pic.twitter.com/h9woSyfKYh

— Formula 1 (@F1) December 3, 2021

Particularity of the track, despite a rather standard grip, Pirelli tires do not wear out excessively and no wear marks are noticeable on the rubber. This is all the more surprising for a surface that was completed just a few days ago. We are heading straight towards a one-stop race.

In good shape at this end of the season, the Ferraris were positioned in the top 5 at the start of the session. They were accompanied by Yuki Tsunoda’s AlphaTauri.

After 20 minutes of driving, Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas’ Mercedes were positioned first and second in the timing standings (1:29.018 and 1:29.079), ahead of Max Verstappen (+0.272), all on medium tires, and Yuki Tsunoda (+0.579 on hard tires).

At midday

The entire field had switched to soft compound tires midway through the session, attempting to post fast laps. Multiple times Lewis Hamilton encountered slower cars on their cool-down laps and complained about the significant speed differential. The quick blind corners will be tricky during qualifying, and hopefully, won’t cause any accidents.

In the fight for 5th place in the constructor standings with AlphaTauri, Alpine managed to place its drivers in 5th and 6th place in the time ranking, just ahead of Esteban Ocon. On their side, Pierre Gasly placed 3rd and Yuki Tsunoda 7th.

At midday, Hamilton was leading with a time of 1:29.018, followed by Valtteri Bottas (+0.061), Pierre Gasly (+ 0.081), and Max Verstappen (+0.195).

The last 20 minutes

Struggling at the end of the season and with 15 minutes to go, we found Sebastian Vettel’s and Lance Stroll’s two Aston Martins in 15th and 16th places. A challenging year for the Silverstone team, lacking in performance after a superb 2020 season.

The red flag was deployed at the end of the session, with Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari found completely destroyed in the final sector. The Monegasque driver managed to extricate himself from his car alone, but a long evening of repairs awaits the Maranello mechanics.

The second free practice session will not resume, there were only 3 minutes left of driving.

Charles Leclerc is off into the wall at Turn 22

He is out of his car and confirms he’s okay over the radio. The session has been red flagged and will not be resumed#SaudiArabianGP 🇸🇦 #F1 pic.twitter.com/KWRttUcl0W

— Formula 1 (@F1) December 3, 2021

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