Lando Norris headed the timing leaves in the second practice session on Friday before the Formula 1 Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia, which exceeds his teammate Oscar Piestri for 0.163 seconds. Norris ended the duration of P2 the first most early practice session in the day, just 0.007 seconds behind Pierre Gasly, but the second session is more representative of what to expect from the qualification and the Sunday Grand Prix, given the night start.
Speaking after the session, Norris admitted that he had “confidence”, but in no way “comfortable” gave the competitive nature of the field.
“I think at the time we feel safe, but others are not far away,” said Norris.
“It was probable with the hope of a bigger gap than we had today. We know we are fast, we know that we have a great car but certainly not comfortable, not as comfortable as we would like. Nothing more than that is and seven can do.”
Max Verstappen, the current pilot champion, finished the third duration FP2.
“It always feels chaotic here because it is very fast. Many walls, many almost false,” Norris added.
“I think today has really been a day of trying to work in my driving, working in Myelf more than likely trying to work in the car. I think a good beginning of the weekend, productive, gaining confidence, winning feelings. So, so I wanted to achieve today” “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “” “
For his part, Piastri described the session as “reasonably comfortable”, but pointed out that he and McLaren have some things to “go” before the qualification.
“It was a decent day, I think the rhythm has a good bone and felt reasonably comfortable,” said Piastri, who has two victories tasks so far this season.
“There is a leg some corners that I need to try to do a little better job in the morning, but in general it felt like a good day. I think the rhythm leg is good, still some things to iron, it is not perfect but it still feels good.”
The director of the McLaren team, Andrea Stella, described Friday as a first “positive” day in Saudi Arabia for the team.
“It has been a positive first day here in Jeddah, where we could complete a series of important test elements and establish a reasonable performance baseline,” Stella said in the report after the team’s session. “We complete a good amount of turns, allowing drivers to generate trust, which is particularly important in this high -speed circuit, but technically challenging.
“Having said this, the field seems very well full, and we will have to extract the maximum potential of the car to qualify. We have many data to analyze this event and hope to return to the track tomorrow.”