2024 Saudi Arabia GP: Alonso pips Russell and Verstappen in delayed FP2
7th March 2024Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso completes a delayed second practice of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as the top three were separated by three-tenths of a second.
Under the darkness of night, free practice two set more representative conditions for what the drivers would encounter during both the qualifying and race sessions.
However, the session was delayed at the start by 10 minutes as the sport checked out suspected loose drain covers in the pit lane.
When the session got going, 10 minutes past the hour, the McLaren of Oscar Piastri was the first to head out onto the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
By the chequered flag, Alonso topped the timing board with a 1:28.827 which beat the best time of FP1 set by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen’s. Mercedes’ George Russell and Verstappen completed the top three, in second and third respectively.
Ferrari’s leading driver was Charles Leclerc in fourth ahead of Verstappen’s teammate, Sergio Perez, in fifth.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll occupied sixth in a fairly quiet session. His only interruption was a black-and-white flag, mid-way through the session, for failing to follow the race director’s instructions when he crossed into the painted area on pit entry.
Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz completed the session for the iconic team down in seventh as Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes), Pierre Gasly (Alpine) and Piastri completed the top 10 respectively.
Hamilton has been summoned to the stewards after he had a close encounter with Williams’ Logan Sargeant, who completed the session in 16th.
RB’s Yuki Tsunoda led the bottom 10 drivers in 11th, followed by Lando Norris (McLaren), Guanyu Zhou (Sauber), Alexander Albon (Williams) and Esteban Ocon (Alpine) to complete the top 15.
The Haas duo remained at the bottom quarter of the timing sheets, behind 16th-placed Sargeant, with Magnussen in 17th ahead of Hulkenberg in P18.
RB’s Daniel Ricciardo was the second-slowest driver of the session down in 19th as Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas completed the field in 20th.
That’s all for the article; 2024 Saudi Arabia GP: Alonso pips Russell and Verstappen in delayed FP2!
Read more Formula 1 here:
- Saudi Arabia GP: Verstappen tops FP1 ahead of Alonso and Perez
- Alpine to change technical structure in bid for better results
- Verstappen wins with 22.5 seconds in hand at Bahrain GP
- Report: Verstappen secures 33rd career pole ahead of Bahrain GP
- Sainz fastest in FP3 as F1 heads to qualifying for the Bahrain GP
- Bottas given reprimand for Bahrain pit lane infringement
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
