Norris leads McLaren 1-2 as Tsunoda crashes for Red Bull in FP2

Lando Norris led Oscar Piastri for a McLaren 1-2 in second practice for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, which was red flagged for a crash by Yuki Tsunoda.

The Red Bull driver planted his RB21 in the outside wall of the final corner with eight minutes remaining, spelling an early end to the session as there was only enough time for the usual practice starts when green conditions returned.

It was the only major incident of an otherwise smooth contest in which McLaren reasserted its dominance. Norris had edged out his team-mate Piastri on the ferocious 6.1km Jeddah street circuit as the Briton was aiming to bounce back from a tough Bahrain weekend.

After surprisingly ceding the top spot in first practice to Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, Norris and Piastri never looked like anything but the fastest two cars around Jeddah, with Norris leading the early medium runs from his team-mate by just 0.001s.

After 15 minutes Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc upped the ante with a 1m29.002s on mediums, while Tsunoda and soft-tyre runner Liam Lawson also circulated the top five.

As the frontrunners switched to softs, reigning world champion Max Verstappen briefly grabbed top spot with a 1m28.547s, but the Red Bull driver was quickly demoted by Piastri’s 1m28.430s.

Norris responded in kind by beating Piastri’s lap by 0.090s and then further finessing his best effort to a 1m28.267s on the same set.

Verstappen’s second soft-tyre tour was better than his first but – 0.280s off Norris – still not enough to break up the McLaren hegemony at the front.

Leclerc was fourth, four tenths adrift, followed by Williams driver Carlos Sainz and the second Red Bull of Tsunoda, who was fourth tenths behind his illustrious team-mate before his crash. 

Russell, Gasly, a surprisingly quick Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg and the second Williams of Alex Albon completed the top 10.

As often on the high-speed and blind twists on the Jeddah Corniche street circuit, traffic was a big factor, with both Verstappen and Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton summoned to the stewards for allegedly impeding colleagues. Hamilton finished 13th after a low-key session.

Before Tsunoda’s off, Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli clipped the wall coming out of the same corner, prompting a quick garage call.

Fellow rookie Gabriel Bortoleto did not take part in FP2, after his Sauber team discovered a fuel leak that could not be repaired in time.

F1 Saudi Arabian GP – FP2 results