Although Hamilton once again set the pace in Jeddah, holding a 0.061s margin over Bottas with a new benchmark of a 1m29.018s, the competitive picture was slightly skewed as traffic𝓡 compromised many of the soft tyre qualifying simulation runs.

Both Hamil﷽ton and title rival Max Verstappen were left frustrated after having 💝several laps ruined by traffic around the tight yet ultrafast Jeddah Corniche Circuit. 

One driver who did get a clean lap in on softs was Pier♏re Gasly, who once again put his AlphaTauri insid🐈e the top four, with the Frenchman impressing to end the session third-fastest, just 0.081s off the pace. 

After staying out to fꦑocus on his short run pace longer than Hamilton, Verstappen was able to improve, though he could not jump Gasly and🍨 stayed fourth, some 0.195s behind Hamilton. 

FP2 ended early following a huge shunt for Charles Leclerc, who brought out the red flags when he slammed into the wall after losing control﷽ of his Ferrari on💦 entry to the high-speed Turn 22.

Leclerc was able to get out of his car unaided and appeared to be unhurt in the crash which 🐻left his Ferrari destroyed with massive damage to the rear-end. 

Charles Leclerc is off into the wall at Turn 22

He is out of his car and confirms ꦛhe's okay over the radio. The session has been red flagged and will not be resumed

— Formula 1 (@F1)

The Monegasque is the first driv💃er to have crashed at Jeddah following what was a relatively incident-free opening practice session. 

Fernando Alonso led Alpine teammate Esteban Ocon in fifth, with Carlos Sainz putting his Ferrari seven🌌th and just a tenth behind his compatriot. 

AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda briefly topped the timesheets but was eventually shuffled down to eighth, ahead of Sergio Perez’s Red Bulꦡl and Leclerc, who🥃 rounded out the top-10. 

FP2 was the most representative practice sꩲession given it took place under the lights at the same time qualifying and the race will take place.