Reigning world champion Max Verstappen comfortably led his rivals in the first practice session in Jeddah; Fernando Alonso splits Red Bulls to take second place; George Russell fourth ahead of his Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton; Watch practice two live on Sky Sports F1 at 5pm
Max Verstappen delivered another ominous display of speed to lead a Red Bull one-two in first practice at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Verstappen showed no signs of the illness that caused him to miss media duties in Jeddah on Thursday when he turned in a time of 1:29.617 to finish nearly half a second ahead of teammate Sergio Perez.
Completing a repeat of the top three at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix earlier this month, Fernando Alonso was third for Aston Martin, who enjoyed another very encouraging session with Lance Stroll fourth.
Trying to regroup after a demoralizing start to their season in Bahrain, Mercedes had George Russell in fifth ahead of Lewis Hamilton, but both cars were more than a second off Verstappen’s fastest time.
Carlos Sainz has been seventh for Ferrari, which has confirmed during the session that it has installed new engines in its two cars for the second round of the season after the withdrawal of Charles Leclerc in Bahrain.
Leclerc, who has incurred a 10-place grid penalty for installing his third electronic control unit of the season, finished 11th.
While reigning world champion Verstappen’s speed may seem unsettling to the rivals, Friday’s second session, under the lights, will provide conditions representative of those seen in Saturday’s qualifying and Sunday’s race.
More to follow…
Practice two, in Saudi Arabia’s much more representative and fast overnight conditions, is broadcast live on Sky Sports F1 at 5:00pm after warm-up at 4:45pm
