the dutch Max Verstappen (Red Bull) set the best time this Friday, ahead of his teammatethe Mexican Sergio Pérez, in the first free practice for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the second of the F1 World Cup, which takes place in the urban circuit of Jeddah, where the Spanish Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) y Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) marked the third and seventh times, respectively.
In the best of his 18 laps, Verstappen -who is aiming for a third title in a row– covered the 6,174 meters of the track located on the shores of the Red Sea in one minute, 29 seconds and 662 thousandthss, 483 less than ‘Checo’ -who gave 20- and with an advantage of 698 over the Asturian double world champion, who set the third time of the session in the fastest of his twenty laps; like the previous ones, with the soft compound tire.
The Canadian Lance Stroll, Alonso’s new teammate, set the fourth time -960 thousandths of ‘Mad Max’- of a session in which los Aston Martin they were ordered behind the Red Bull and ahead of the Mercedes: Englishman George Russell was fifth and his compatriot the seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, sixth.
Sainz did 23 laps and set the seventh time of the session, one second and three tenths behind Verstappen, in a training session in which there were no notable incidents and that concluded with 26 degrees Celsius ambient and 40.5 on the asphalt.
His companion, the Monegasque Charles Leclerc -who will lose ten places on the grid on Sunday, having already changed (the top of) the switchboard of his SF23 twice- registered eleventh on the time table: a second and a half behind Verstappen. Both Ferraris changed the engines, as announced this Friday in Jeddah; an action that, however, does not imply a penalty.
The second free practice, which it will be much more significantsince it will coincide with the time of the qualification and the race, it will be held from eight in the afternoon (six o’clock, in Spanish peninsular time: 5:00 p.m. GMT).
