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Formula 1
Saudi Arabia GP
F1 Saudi Arabia GP Live Commentary and Updates
Friday's sessions from the inaugural Saudi GP at the Jeddah street circuit
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Summary
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- Red flag ends second practice for Saudi Arabian GP early as Leclerc has a hefty crash
- Ferrari driver walks away from significant impact backwards into the barrier after losing the rear at Turn 23
- Hamilton heads the session from team-mate Bottas as Verstappen is only fourth
- Eventful session for Haas drivers as Mazepin goes off at Turn 1, while Schumacher briefly brushes the wall
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Leaderboard
- Hamilton, Mercedes
- Bottas, Mercedes
- Gasly, AlphaTauri
- Verstappen, Red Bull
- Alonso, Alpine
- Ocon, Alpine
- Sainz, Ferrari
- Tsunoda, AlphaTauri
- Perez, Red Bull
- Leclerc, Ferrari
2 Days
15 hrs
06 min
54 sec
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Checkered flag
And that's all from us today! We'll see you again tomorrow for MORE action in Saudi Arabia.
Checkered flag
So, that's a Mercedes 1-2 in FP2, from Gasly and Verstappen.
Leclerc's rear just stepped out and he took a fair old whack on the Tecpro barriers. The session will not be restarted as a result.
Crash
That's a huge crash for Leclerc down at Turn 23; he's out of the car now, thankfully, but that's a lot of damage to the Ferrari.
Red flag
We have a red flag!
Norris and Sainz have a close moment on track, Sainz mounting an overtake on his former team-mate. Save it for Sunday, lads?
The AWS qualifying pace-o-meter has Perez over a second off the pace, Tsunoda ahead of Gasly, and Russell ahead of both Astons. Meanwhile, Mazepin bowls a wide around Turn 2.
We're now firmly in the long-run phase now for the final 15 minutes - with drivers back on the medium and hard tyres.
The Ferrari pair have had a couple more quicker runs too - Sainz moves from 10th to seventh, as Leclerc just dives into the pits rather than finish.
Verstappen improves, setting a 1m29.213s, but remains P4 for the time being.
Gasly now finds a lap on the softs to fire his way up to third place, on a 1m29.099s, as Verstappen is indeed having another go at a quick lap.
Verstappen asks for another tilt at a quali sim, and says "I don't care" when told it might compromise longer runs. Ocon moves up to P5 in the meantime.
Leclerc and Sainz also improved on the softs, but it seems like the majority of red-tyre laps have been affected by traffic in some way. Q1 might be...chaotic.
Alonso finds a break in the running to go P4, setting a 1m29.441s.
Traffic has been a bit of a factor in these soft-tyre laps too, Hamilton finds a colossal gaggle of cars into the final corner and goes wide at Turn 27. A true quali sim.
Norris and Gasly improved only a tiny bit on their initial soft runs, either the teams are focusing on longer runs or the softs aren't giving much around Jeddah. Answers on a postcard, please.
We've got the big-hitters out there on softs now, with just over half an hour remaining.
Nobody's really gone much quicker on their first runs on the softs as it stands - which probably isn't what you expect to see. Russell looks like he's found some time second time around, and Norris is on a cool-down lap.
Russell reports a very long brake pedal, but has pressed on regardless - which is rather brave! All seems to be well after that initial scare.
We're at the start of some soft-tyre runs now - Latifi, Russell, Norris and Stroll are out there now.
Stopwatch
That's a 1m29.018s from Hamilton, who now goes fastest.
Stopwatch
Bottas now goes top, posting a 1m29.079s on the mediums.
Stopwatch
Tsunoda goes fastest with a 1m29.597s for about two seconds, before Verstappen displaces him again by 0.3s. Tsunoda's lap, however, was on the hard tyre.
Leclerc moves closer to Verstappen again, getting in the 1m29s with a 1m29.818s.
Spanish duo Sainz and Alonso move up to third and fourth, wedging between Leclerc and Hamilton on the timesheets.
Stopwatch
Verstappen's done a 1m29.706s to further extend his advantage at the top of the times.
Hamilton gets up to P3, 0.1s off Verstappen's best so far in this session.
Leclerc is just a shade off Verstappen's best, with Ocon moving up to third.
Stopwatch
And along comes Verstappen, who does a 1m30.104s to go quickest on the medium tyre.
Hamilton goes P2, 0.2s off Norris, but he's on a step-harder tyres. Norris did his P1 run on the softs.
Track conditions present a different prospect at night; the circuit is often cooler, which should yield a trifle more grip.
Stopwatch
Lando Norris then posts a 1m30.771s to go quickest so far.
Stopwatch
We've got some laps on the board - of the initial flurry, Esteban Ocon's 1m31.223s is the most notable.
Quote
Nikita Mazepin asks for a lighter visor, as he's turned up with a considerable tint to his.
And that's a full house - all 20 cars are on the road.
It didn't take long for everyone to swarm the circuit - only Lewis Hamilton is yet to join the fray.
Carlos Sainz Jr kicks us off and gets out on track first.
Green flag
The green light is on at the end of the pitlane - so it's tick-tock, FP2 o'clock.
FP2 should be much more representative of Sunday's race, since it'll be run under the lights. This session is where the majority of preparation will be done.
By: Autosport Staff
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