Leclerc on top in second free practice at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc went fastest for the second session in a row. Max Verstappen and Carlos Sainz were in second and third positions.

Verstappen and Sainz could not get their flying laps in on the soft compound tyres.

The second free practice session of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix  took place at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

The session was delayed by fifteen minutes with concerns about an explosion at an oil refinery in the city of Jeddah. The session started at 20:15 hours local time under the lights.

The sixty-minute long second free practice session started at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit with air temperatures at 22 degrees C and track temperatures at 23 degrees C..

The Pirelli tyre choice at this race is the white-striped hard compound tyres (C2), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C3), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C4) from the middle range of compounds in the Pirelli tyre range.

Leclerc set the early pace with a lap time of 1m30.216s as he led team-mate Sainz in the early running. The Oracle Red Bull Racing drivers came out on the track last and Verstappen went third fastest, 1.1 seconds slower than Leclerc.

Verstappen then went fastest with a lap time of 1m30.214s, just 0.002 seconds faster than Leclerc. But Leclerc on the soft compound tyres went to the top of the time charts with a lap of 1m30.074s.

Lewis Hamilton with a much better lap went fifth fastest behind Sergio Pérez. Hamilton was 0.439 seconds slower than the fastest lap. George Russell was in sixth position.

Kevin Magnussen stopped out on the side of the track and brought out the Virtual Safety Car. The Dane missed most of the first session with a hydraulics problem.

As the teams started the race simulations, Sainz brushed the wall. Leclerc then clouted the wall and his session was over. Both Scuderia Ferrari drivers’ session ended with the team not being able to collect enough data on the long runs.

Leclerc ended the session 0.140 seconds faster than Verstappen. Sainz was in third position ahead of Pérez. In a more encouraging session for the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team, Hamilton and Russell were in fifth and sixth positions.

Lando Norris in a much better session for the McLaren F1 team was in seventh position even as team-mate Daniel Ricciardo was in fifteenth position.

Esteban Ocon, Valtteri Bottas and Yuki Tsunoda rounded off the top tem positions in the session.

Another close battle is brewing between the Red Bull Racing and the Ferrari teams this race weekend. Mercedes are closer to the top two teams this weekend, but still 0.5 seconds slower a lap.

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix FP2 Results:

Pos	No	Driver	Nat.	Teams	Time	Gap	Laps
1	16	Charles Leclerc	MON	Scuderia Ferrari	1:30.074		15
2	1	Max Verstappen	NED	Oracle Red Bull Racing	1:30.214	+0.140s	23
3	55	Carlos Sainz	ESP	Scuderia Ferrari	1:30.320	+0.246s	12
4	11	Sergio Perez	MEX	Oracle Red Bull Racing	1:30.360	+0.286s	24
5	44	Lewis Hamilton	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1:30.513	+0.439s	24
6	63	George Russell	GBR	Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team	1:30.664	+0.590s	29
7	4	Lando Norris	GBR	McLaren F1 Team	1:30.735	+0.661s	26
8	31	Esteban Ocon	FRA	BWT Alpine F1 Team	1:30.760	+0.686s	26
9	77	Valtteri Bottas	FIN	Alfa Romeo Racing	1:30.832	+0.758s	14
10	22	Yuki Tsunoda	JAP	Scuderia AlphaTauri	1:30.886	+0.812s	26
11	14	Fernando Alonso	ESP	BWT Alpine F1 Team	1:30.944	+0.870s	27
12	10	Pierre Gasly	FRA	Scuderia AlphaTauri	1:30.963	+0.889s	29
13	47	Mick Schumacher	GER	Haas F1 Team	1:31.169	+1.095s	27
14	18	Lance Stroll	CAN	Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team	1:31.372	+1.298s	28
15	3	Daniel Ricciardo	AUS	McLaren F1 Team	1:31.527	+1.453s	23
16	27	Nico Hulkenberg	GER	Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team	1:31.615	+1.541s	30
17	24	Zhou Guanyu	CHN	Alfa Romeo Racing	1:31.615	+1.541s	27
18	6	Nicholas Latifi	CAN	Williams Racing	1:31.814	+1.740s	26
19	23	Alexander Albon	THA	Williams Racing	1:31.866	+1.792s	29
20	20	Kevin Magnussen	DEN	Haas F1 Team	1:32.344	+2.270s	13