F1 Saudi Arabian GP: Dominant Max Verstappen fastest from Fernando Alonso in second practice
The reigning world champion, who was battling a stomꦫach bug this week, doubled up with a dominant display o൲n Friday to set the pace in conditions representative to those in qualifying and the race.
Verstappen was 0.208s ahead of Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin and Red Bull teammꦏate Sergio Perez, who was 0.299s ꧅off in third.
Although Aston Martin cut ไthe deficit in FP2, Red Bull look favourites once again after dominating the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix two weeks ago.
ꦗIt was not all smooth sailing for Verstappen, howeve🌳r, as the Dutchman was unhappy with slow downshifts in his Red Bull.
Esteban Ocon was fourth for Alpine ahead of George Russell, who was 0.467s adrift of Verstap♈pen and the quickest Mercedes driver.&ไnbsp;
Mercedes teammate Lewis Hamilton could only manag♑e the 11th-best time, almost a full second ofꦕf Verstappen as the seven-time world champion once again complained of a lack of grip in his W14.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was sixt🅘h ahead of the second 𒀰Aston Martin of Lance Stroll and Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas.
The Ferrari pair of Charles Lecle෴rc and Carlos Sainz rounded out the top-10.
Leclerc has a 10-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race after exceeding his allo💖cation of electronic control units following two failures in Bahrain, while Sainz has also taken a new power unit as a precaution amid Ferrari’s r🐻eliability concerns.
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