Saudi Arabian GP: Norris Fastest in Practice, Tsunoda Crashes

Lando Norris from McLaren set the fastest time in the second practice session at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with his teammate Oscar Piastri in second place. Max Verstappen from Red Bull finished third.

The session was temporarily stopped when Yuki Tsunoda crashed his Red Bull car towards the end. He hit the wall at the last corner with only nine minutes remaining.

Tsunoda ended the session in sixth place, behind Charles Leclerc of Ferrari and Carlos Sainz of Williams. His crash means his team will have a lot of repair work to do on the front-right of his car.

Yuki Tsunoda explained, “I turned in too sharply and touched the wall with my inside wheel. It caused damage, and after that, I lost control. I apologize to the team. Our pace was good, so it`s disappointing.”

McLaren seems to be the strongest team in Jeddah. Norris was 0.163 seconds faster than Piastri and appeared comfortable throughout the session. Piastri was among several drivers who also brushed the wall during the practice.

Max Verstappen was third, 0.280 seconds behind Norris, who leads the championship. Red Bull looks more competitive in Saudi Arabia compared to the previous race in Bahrain.

Charles Leclerc was fourth, half a second behind Norris, and significantly ahead of his Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton, who was 13th, 1.1 seconds slower than Norris.

Lewis Hamilton was investigated for potentially blocking Alex Albon of Williams but no action was taken by the officials.

Norris leads the Drivers` Championship by three points over Piastri, and Verstappen is eight points behind. George Russell is 14 points behind Norris.

George Russell finished seventh as Mercedes struggled with the soft tires. Pierre Gasly, who was fastest in the first practice, was eighth, followed by Nico Hulkenberg and Alex Albon.

Gabriel Bortoleto from Sauber did not participate in the second practice due to a water leak in his car.

Driver Reactions

Norris: Hoping for a Bigger Gap

McLaren seems to have an advantage, but the other teams are catching up. Norris mentioned that he set his best time on his second lap with soft tires, suggesting there`s still room for improvement.

Norris said, “It was a pretty good first day. It`s always hectic here because it`s so fast with many walls and close calls. Today was more about focusing on my driving and getting comfortable, rather than just working on the car.”

“It`s a good start to the weekend. Productive, building confidence and feeling. I think we`re on the right track. We feel confident now, but others are close behind. I was hoping for a bigger gap. We know we`re fast and have a great car, but it`s not completely comfortable yet.”

Red Bull seems to be performing better on the smooth, fast Jeddah track, posing a challenge to McLaren. However, Verstappen believes “there`s still quite a bit of work to do.”

“We tried different things with the car to find a better direction. We learned a lot,” said Verstappen. “It`s still not where I want it to be. I focus on my feeling in the car. Our single-lap pace is better, but long runs are still difficult.”

Ferrari`s Pace Remains a Question

Ferrari`s true speed is still unclear. Charles Leclerc was fastest on medium tires but faced traffic and ended up fourth overall.

Hamilton needs to improve, as the top 11 drivers are within one second of each other. He is currently six-tenths of a second behind his teammate Leclerc.

Kimi Antonelli had some moments during the session, and Russell lacked pace throughout Friday.

Russell commented, “It was a messy session. We didn`t get many laps at the end. We`re a bit worse off than in FP1, but we can fix it and come back stronger.”

“It`s about maximizing the tires. We tried different setups, me and Kimi, to learn. We got some direction from that. I was curious about our long-run pace, but the red flag prevented us from seeing it. It will be another close fight, and hopefully, we can move closer to McLaren, who look strong again.”

Saudi Arabian GP Practice Two Results