McLaren driver Lando Norris set the pace in the second free practice session (FP2) at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in Jeddah on Friday.

Norris’s fastest lap of 1:28.267 put him 0.163 seconds clear of McLaren team-mate and F1 2025 title rival Oscar Piastri, with Red Bull driver and reigning World Champion Max Verstappen in third.

Lando Norris fastest in Saudi Arabian GP FP2

Sauber confirmed moments ahead of the session that Gabriel Bortoleto would not be taking part in FP2, a fuel leak forcing the rookie out of the most representative practice session under the lights in Jeddah.

All of the remaining 19 drivers took the chance get out on track at the start of the session, with Carlos Sainz and Nico Hulkenberg both needing assistance from their respective teams after their exits from the garage left them close to the pit wall.

Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli suffered a lockup under breaking on his first attack lap of the session, cutting the track at Turn 1 before continuing on his way, with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton taking to the run off at the exit of the high-speed Turn 22.

Lando Norris vs Oscar Piastri: McLaren head-to-head scores for F1 2025

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head qualifying statistics between team-mates

👉 F1 2025: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Lando Norris set the pace in the early minutes of the session, going 0.205 seconds clear of Hamilton’s team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Lance Stroll momentarily brought out the yellow flags at Turn 1 after locking his rears and spinning under braking for the slow left hander.

Meanwhile, Alex Albon had a close encounter with a slow-moving Hamilton at Turn 18.

“F***ing dangerous,” the Williams driver said over team radio as the incident was noted by the FIA stewards before being upgraded to a post-session investigation.

Piastri set a fastest first sector on mediums but couldn’t quite dislodge his McLaren team-mate, falling just 0.001 seconds short of Norris’s benchmark with almost 15 minutes of the session completed.

Norris set two purple sectors on his next lap, but lost time in the final sector and failed to improve, with Piastri going 0.132 seconds clear at the top as he followed his team-mate over the line.

Piastri’s time at the top was short lived as Leclerc soon came through to take top spot with a lap 0.138 seconds faster than the Australian’s previous benchmark.

Pierre Gasly, the pace setter in FP1, was heard reporting an issue with the brakes of his Alpine as he pulled into the pit lane, while Liam Lawson used the soft compound tyres to post the fifth-fastest time.

George Russell also switched to the softs as the qualifying simulations ramped up, using the greater grip offered by the red-striped rubber to go marginally quicker than Leclerc.

Russell’s time was quickly overhauled by Sainz as the Mercedes driver complained of bouncing in the high-speed sections of the lap in his Mercedes W16.

Verstappen set three purple sectors on the softs to go 0.395 seconds clear with a new benchmark of 1:28.547 with just over 30 minutes left of the session.

Piastri, however, was not to be denied.

His flyer on softs saw him clear Verstappen’s time by 0.117 seconds as Isack Hadjar called for Racing Bulls to check his car after a clout of the kerb.

Yet if Piastri was not to be denied, neither was Norris.

In the ongoing battle between the McLarens, Norris responded almost immediately by lowering the benchmark by a further 0.090 seconds.

As others started to turn to their race simulations, Piastri went for another go on softs but abandoned the lap after going almost three tenths slower in the first sector as well as encountering traffic.

Piastri also touched the wall entering the high-speed flick of Turn 16, with Antonelli and Albon surviving close shaves on the exit of the final corner.

That signalled the end of the one-lap contest, with both McLaren men returning to the pits before reappearing to conduct their own race sims.

That came as Jack Doohan scraped the floor of his Alpine over the exit kerb at Turn 10, the scene of Mick Schumacher’s accident at this circuit in 2022.

Norris was then seen cutting the track after a mistake at Turn 1.

The session was red flagged with less than nine minutes remaining after Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Yuki Tsunoda crashed at the final corner, the scene of the World Champion’s famous accident in qualifying in 2021.

Tsunoda clipped the inside barrier of the last turn, with a broken steering arm sending him into the wall on the outside of the corner.

“I’m sorry, guys,” Tsunoda said over team radio.

The session was officially resumed with a minute left on the clock, allowing the drivers to conduct practice starts on the grid.

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