Leclerc fastest in delayed F1 practice before hitting wall

Charles Leclerc once again set the pace in second practice for the Formula 1's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix but his day ended prematurely after brushing the barriers.

Connor McDonagh

25 Mar 2022

Leclerc fastest in delayed F1 practice before hitting wall

Leclerc set an early blistering pace on the mediums but returned to the top of the timesheets ahead of reigning F1 champion Max Verstappen on the soft tyre runs.

The Monegasque's 1m30.074s put him over a tenth clear at the top of the timesheets but it wasn't an entirely smooth session for the Ferrari driver.

Leclerc brushed the barriers at Turn 4, damaging the front-left of his car as he cruised back round to the pit lane with just over 15 minutes on the clock.

It does mean Leclerc has missed out on crucial race preparation ahead of Sunday's grand prix.

Second practice in Jeddah was delayed by 15 minutes after F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali called a meeting with the drivers and team principals to discuss the ongoing issue surrounding a missile strike nearby.

The session went ahead as planned and the rest of the F1 weekend in Saudi Arabia is set to go ahead as scheduled.

In terms of the track action, Verstappen ended the day in second, 0.140s behind Leclerc's top time.

Carlos Sainz completed the top three and continued to struggle to match Leclerc's lightning pace, particularly at the start of the session.

The Spaniard took three laps to get within a tenth on the medium tyre at the start of FP2 before ending the day 0.246s off after both drivers completed their soft tyre laps.

Sainz also hit the barrier, this time at Turn 13, as he was forced to sit out the final portion of the session with just 12 laps to his name.

Sergio Perez was once again competitive in the second Red Bull, 0.286s off Leclerc.

Next up was the two Mercedes drivers, Lewis Hamilton ahead of George Russell, with the eight-time champions still struggling with porpoising on the straights.

Lando Norris was seventh overall making it a positive day for McLaren after a disappointing race in Bahrain.

Esteban Ocon, Valtteri Bottas and Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top 10.

At the close of the session, Tsunoda was forced to stop out on track.

It was another difficult session for Kevin Magnussen after his session ended early after a power unit issue forced him to stop on track and resulted in a brief Virtual Safety Car period.