Saudi Arabian GP FP2 Results: What Happened In Free Practice 2

Your Sports Illustrated report of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Free Practice 2.

The second Free Practice Session of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix has ended as nightfall sits over the Jeddah track. It's been yet another interesting practice session as cars give us much more of an insight into what their racing potential could be here. But due to high amounts of traffic, it's worth taking these results with a pinch of salt.

The second Free Practice Session of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix finished with Max Verstappen taking the top of the timesheet. Driving on soft tyres, he put in a lap time of 1:29.603.

Standout Moments

Aston Martin was the first car to leave the pits but it was Carlos Sainz who took set the first fast lap of the session with Charles Leclerc sitting directly behind him. The Ferraris were quickly beaten by Ma Verstappen's Red Bull and both Aston Martins, all on medium tyres. 

McLaren, after a disappointing level of performance in FP1, still struggled to break into the top ten. 

Max wasn't completely happy with his car, with the Dutch driver complaining that his headrest wasn't in the right place. "I can't feel the car," he tells his engineer. 

We see a lot of slow-moving traffic on this tight, low-visibility track, and it's no surprise that pundits are commenting on the potential dangers of this. A few drivers have also complained about this, too, including Leclerc. Fernando Alonso also had a moment with Sainz that looked a little close for comfort. 

George Russell was the first of the Mercedes boys to get close to the likes of Red Bull with the Brit being almost half a second off the pace of Verstappen with Hamilton struggling with the W14 and falling out of the top ten. 

Issues

Ferrari's Leclerc felt an issue with power, but this was dismissed by his engineer over the radio. Soon after, there was also an issue as a Williams left the pits and almost hit the cars waiting to practice their race start at the end of the lane. 

In the last ten minutes of FP2, Max complained of poor downshift, something that the team really doesn't want to hear this close to qualifying. 

Conclusion

A very similar session to FP1. Red Bull is still on top with Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso parting the drivers sat in second place on the timesheet. Mercedes is still struggling with downforce, as is the majority of the grid, to be honest. 

But the main issue stemming from this session was the sheer amount of traffic on track. It's incredibly narrow and the visibility is so poor that when travelling at such high speeds, it's very difficult for drivers to know who's moving slowly around the next corner. I'm sure this has had an effect on lap times, so although we have one more practice session tomorrow, let's leave assumptions until qualifying. 

Here's how to watch the next Practice Sessions.

Saudi Arabia FP2 Results

1. Max Verstappen
2. Fernando Alonso
3. Sergio Perez
4. Esteban Ocon
5. George Russell
6. Pierre Gasly
7. Lance Stroll
8. Nico Hulkenberg
9. Charles Leclerc
10. Carlos Sainz
11. Lewis Hamilton
12. Lando Norris
13. Yuki Tsunoda
14. Alex Albon
15. Kevin Magnussen
16. Zhou Guanyu 
17. Nyck de Vries
18. Logan Sargeant
19. Oscar Piastri
20. Valtteri Bottas