Lando Norris was at the top of the timing magazines in the second training session on Friday prior to Formula 1 Saudi Aarabic Grand Prix, with 0.163 seconds from teammate Oscar Piestri. Norris finished during the first practice session earlier in the day, only 0.007 seconds behind Pierre Gasly, but the second session is more representative of what to expect from qualifying and the Grand Prix of Sunday, given the Night Start.
Speaking after the session, Norris admitted that he was ‘confident’, but by no means ‘useful’ given the competitive character of the field.
“I think we feel confident at the moment, but the others are not far behind,” said Norris.
“I was probably hoping for a bigger gap than what we had today. Ourselves and see what we can do.”
Max Verstappen, the ruling driver’s champion, finished third during FP2.
“Always feels chaotic here, because it is so fast. Many walls, a lot of almost accident,” Norris added.
“I think today it really has been a day to work on my driving, more working on my self than trying to work on the car. Straight tracks.”
For his part, Piastri described the session as ‘relevant reasonable’, but noted that he and McLaren will have few things to ‘iron’ before qualifying.
“It was a dated day, I think the pace was good and it felt fairly handy,” said Piastri, who has achieved two victories this season this season.
“There have been a few corners that I have to try to do a bit of a better work in tomorrow, but all-in-ball felt like a good day.
McLaren Team Main Andrea Stella described on Friday as a “positive” first day in Saudi Arabia for the team.
“It was a positive first day here in Jeddah, where we had completed a number of important test items and branches a reasonable basic line of the performance,” said Stella in the post -session report of the team. “We have completed a large number of laps, making the drivers structured to build Confide, which is especially important with this fast, Bottom-challenging circuit connector.
“Having said this, the SEMS VRY field firmly packaged, and we will have to get the maximum potential out of the car to be eligible. We have enough information to analyze tonight and look forward to coming back on the right track tomorrow.”