Verstappen in command as traffic bedlam sparks Saudi Arabian GP qualifying fears

Ewan Gale
Friday 17 March 2023 18:01 - Updated: 19:40

Red Bull's stronghold at the top of the F1 timesheets continued with Max Verstappen finishing fastest in second practice for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The Dutchman set a best time of one minute, 29.603secs to finish 0.208s faster than Fernando Alonso, who continues to impress for Aston Martin.

Sergio Perez was third in the second Red Bull, within a tenth of Alonso as the teams completed their representative qualifying simulations under the lights at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Verstappen's confidence with the RB19 was clear for all when the two-time champion instantly pushed to the limit, narrowly avoiding contact with the wall on the exit of the final corner during his initial medium-tyre runs.

But when the softs were fitted, Verstappen was again in a class of one to remain in command heading into the weekend.

Alpine joined the party at the top of the grid with Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly finishing fourth and sixth fastest, each within half a second of Verstappen's best effort.

Between the two French drivers was George Russell, who called for changes to his Mercedes after completing his flying laps. The Briton was seen locking up into the first corner on numerous occasions.

Lance Stroll ended the day seventh fastest in the second Aston Martin, three-tenths adrift of team-mate Alonso.

Nico Hulkenberg's eighth-place finish in the session suggests Haas ran with a relatively low fuel load during the German's quali sims - finishing ahead of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz who rounded out the top 10 for Ferrari.

Lewis Hamilton could muster only 11th in his W14, with work to be down at Mercedes overnight.

The big takeaway from the session ahead of qualifying, however, was the difficulties drivers will face with traffic.

Leclerc labelled Hulkenberg 'a joke' for hugging the apex at turn 13 early in the session before further ranting on team radio in the dying embers of the hour.

Whilst all drivers were affected and, at points, at blame for traffic issues, McLaren's rookie Oscar Piastri - who ended the session 19th fastest - was the victim of the scariest moment as he encountered two cars side-by-side through turn 16.

Saudi Arabian Grand Prix second practice results

1. Max Verstappen [Red Bull] - 1:29.603

2. Fernando Alonso [Aston Martin] - +0.208secs

3. Sergio Perez [Red Bull] - +0.299s

4. Esteban Ocon [Alpine] - +0.436s

5. George Russell [Mercedes] - +0.467s

6. Pierre Gasly [Alpine] - +0.497s

7. Lance Stroll [Aston Martin] - +0.507s

8. Nico Hulkenberg [Haas] - +0.578s

9. Charles Leclerc [Ferrari] - +0.738s

10. Carlos Sainz [Ferrari] - +0.989s

11. Lewis Hamilton [Mercedes] - +0.996s

12. Lando Norris [McLaren] - +1.118s

13. Yuki Tsunoda [AlphaTauri] - +1.173s

14. Alex Albon [Williams] - +1.207s

15. Kevin Magnussen [Haas] - +1.217s

16. Zhou Guanyu [Alfa Romeo] - +1.234s

17. Nyck de Vries [AlphaTauri] - +1.318s

18. Logan Sargeant [Williams] - +1.356s

19. Oscar Piastri [McLaren] - +1.361s

20. Valtteri Bottas [Alfa Romeo] - +1.449s