Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc led the second practice this evening in Saudi Arabia with the fastest lap in 1:30.074s.
His teammate Carlos Sainz was in third, and the pair were split by the Red Bull of Max Verstappen, while the second charging bull of Sergio Perez was in fourth.
The full timesheet when the clock ran out was as follows:
| DRIVER | TEAM | TIME | TYRE |
|---|---|---|---|
| LEC | FERRARI | 1:30.074 | S |
| VER | RED BULL | +0.140 | M |
| SAI | FERRARI | +0.246 | S |
| PER | RED BULL | +0.286 | M |
| HAM | MERCEDES | +0.439 | M |
| RUS | MERCEDES | +0.590 | M |
| NOR | MCLAREN | +0.661 | M |
| OCO | ALPINE | +0.686 | S |
| BOT | ALFA ROMEO | +0.758 | S |
| TSU | ALPHATAURI | +0.812 | M |
| ALO | ALPINE | +0.870 | S |
| GAS | ALPHATAURI | +0.889 | S |
| MSC | HAAS | +1.095 | S |
| STR | ASTON MARTIN | +1.298 | M |
| RIC | MCLAREN | +1.453 | S |
| HUL | ASTON MARTIN | +1.541 | H |
| ZHO | ALFA ROMEO | +1.541 | S |
| LAT | WILLIAMS | +1.740 | M |
| ALB | WILLIAMS | +1.792 | S |
| MAG | HAAS | NOTIME | - |
Drivers will hit the tarmac once again tomorrow afternoon at 2:00 pm Irish time for FP3, which will be followed by Qualifying at 5:00 pm.
Highlights
There was a delay to this evening’s FP2 start after a fire broke out at a nearby oil depot. The cause of the fire has yet to be confirmed but some reports suggest it was a drone strike.
After a meeting with drivers and team principals, however, things got underway 15-minutes late.
The delay came as a relief to the Haas team who were in a race against time to get Kevin Magnussen’s car ready following an issue with the hydraulics met earlier today.
Alex Albon was handed a sanction from the stewards ahead of FP2 for impeding Mick Schumacher during the earlier practice session.
As things got underway, Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz was continuing to deal with porpoising and said: “Quite a lot of bouncing.” At this point, his teammate Charles Leclerc was more than a second ahead posting the fastest lap of the session so far in 1:30.216.
Mercedes continued to have the same issues and Hamilton was heard over the radio simply saying “too much bouncing”.
Minutes later, the Red Bull of Max Verstappen managed to outpace both Ferrari men with a lap in 1:30.214. However, he was just 0.002s faster than the Ferrari.
Meanwhile, the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez was improving to go fourth – leaving just 0.146s between the top four this evening.
After exiting his W13, Lewis Hamilton returned to the track after swapping out his seat for a higher one. He remained 1.5s off the leading Ferrari with 30 minutes to go.
With just twenty minutes left, Haas’s Magnussen told engineers he was having an engine power issue – not a great day for the Danish driver.
He pulled to the side of the track and once again was headed back to the pits prematurely. Magnussen would have wanted the utmost time on track today, it being his first time driving this intricate street circuit.
The team took to Twitter and simply said:
There’s another issue with Kevin’s car and he’s had to pull over at Turn 14. #HaasF1 #SaudiArabianGP #FP2 pic.twitter.com/jmpqGBJCpQ
— Haas F1 Team (@HaasF1Team) March 25, 2022
Disaster struck Leclerc after a great performance today – he told engineers “my car is broken” after clipping his left wheel off the wall as he creeped back into the pits.
Ferrari then confirmed that neither Charles Leclerc nor Carlos Sainz would be returning to the track after both drivers touched the wall.
Despite his retirement from FP2, Leclerc remained at the top of the timesheets and Sainz held onto third – divided by Max Verstappen – when time ran out.
At the very bitter end of this session, trouble struck the AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda who had to park his AT03 at sector 1.
