Important time for the future of Saudi Arabian GP. The second free practice sessions are the most important as the track and environmental conditions are the same as those found in qualifying and the race. So there’s no time to waste and it’s time to show the cards. The best? Fernando Alonso in his AMR24, which is really competitive after one lap. They followed Russell and Verstappen, the best in racing speed. Sainz, for his part, was seventh.
The session took 10 minutes to start due to a new problem with the sewers. Too many stars at the start of the World Cup. In the first minutes, all the teams dedicated themselves to riding on medium and soft rubber to get sensations for the moment of truth.
And before half an hour into the session, Alonso was one of the first to do the qualifying simulation and the first lap was already strange. The Asturian scored a 1.28.827, a record that no one would beat for the rest of the session. Just one lap in, Aston Martin is still competitive as seen in Bahrain. It’s time to see if the rhythm is put together.
What came close to Alonso’s time was George Russell and his Mercedes. The Briton took a while to fit the soft rubber and when everyone was in the pits preparing for the race simulation, he set a great lap where he was two tenths behind the Spaniard. He finished in third position Max Verstappen, who did not show the full potential of Red Bull and it is more than three tenths away.
A symptom that Aston Martin works one lap, sixth place Lance Strolling, which in Bahrain was more cautious throughout the weekend. The Canadian was half a second behind Alonso, just behind Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perezwhich also missed the perfect lap.
Sainz did his best
Sainz took time to recover but he continued to have health problems, with a fever, which started on Wednesday and they stopped him in Jeddah on Media Day. He finally finished in seventh position and will try to improve the sensations and recover 100% for the classification this Friday.
Hamilton, who complained of electrical problems, didn’t have the best of days either and finished in eighth position. Pierre Gasly was happy with the Alpine finishing in ninth position while Piastri closed out the TOP10. His McLaren teammate, Lando Norris, did not have a good lap and was only in 12th position, behind Tsunoda.
At racing speed there is no color
The second part of the session was the execution of the race simulation and At race pace the best is the same as before: Max Verstappen. Aboard the RB20, the Dutchman squeezed out lap after lap with no one to spare, not even his teammate ‘Checo’ Pérez. He easily recorded 1.33” while the others stayed in the middle of 34”
It’s not like the speed of the Ferrari is anything to write home about, but the ones who ended up being the most disappointed were the Mercedes. The simulations are not as useful as they would like to be and that will help Aston Martin get closer to more exciting racing positions.
However, harder lap after lap from Ferrari and Mercedes left the Red Bulls alone in the fight for a hypothetical victory and as far as the excitement of victory is concerned, there is little hope in sight.
It should be noted that, as Pedro De la Rosa commented on DAZN, the destruction of Aston Martin is not the most desired and he does not want to give messages of optimism.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
