P1racenews AI automatic summary:
F1 Saudi Arabian GP: Alonso leads FP2 from Russell, Verstappen
The second one-hour session on Thursday in Jeddah started late by 10 minutes due to FIA checking pitlane drain covers, but ran smoothly under the night lights, providing crucial practice time before qualifying and the race. Oscar Piastri led the pack in his McLaren, setting the initial benchmark time, while others like Verstappen and Alonso quickly challenged for the top spot. Verstappen and Alonso exchanged fastest times, with Verstappen eventually taking over the lead with a quick lap. Drivers then switched to soft tyres for qualifying simulations, with Alonso shining by clocking the session-topping time of 1m28.827s. The field later focused on long-run data gathering, with some notable performances from Pierre Gasly and Carlos Sainz, showcasing promising results for Alpine and Ferrari respectively in FP2 in Jeddah.
