F1 Saudi Arabian GP: Dominant Max Verstappen fastest from Fernando Alonso in second practice
The reigning world cha🔯mpion, who was battling a stomach bug this week, doubled up with a domin𒁃ant display on Friday to set the pace in conditions representative to those in qualifying and the race.
Verstapp꧋en was 0.208s ahead of Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin and Red Bull teammate Serܫgio Perez, who was 0.299s off in third.
Although Aston Martin cut the deficit in FP2, Red Bull look favourites once again after dominating the season-opening Bahrain Gꦍrand Prix two weeks ago.
It was not all s🍌mooth sailing for Verstappen, however, as the Dutchman was unhappy with slow downshif🐎ts in his Red Bull.
Esteban Ocon was fourth for Alpine ahead of George Russell, who was 0.467s adrift of Verstappen and the quickest Mercedes driver.&꧅nbsp;
Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton could only manage the 11th-best time, almost a full second off Verstappen as the♑ seven-time world champion once again complain𝄹ed of a lack of grip in his W14.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was sixth ahead of the second Aston Martin of Lance Stroll and ౠNico Hulkenberg’s Haas.
The Ferrari pair 🌞of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz rounded out the top-10.
Leclerc has a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race after exceeding his allocation 🐼of electronic control units following two failures in Bahrain, while Saiဣnz has also taken a new power unit as a precaution amid Ferrari’s reliability concerns.
Lewis regularly attends Grands Prix for mahbx.com around the world. Often reporting on the action from the ground, Lewꦰis tells the stories of the people who matter in the sport.
