Second Free Practice in Jeddah and the last one before the first race of the weekend. From testing strategies and pitboost, who dominated the session ?

The track was much hotter than yesterday for this second Free Practice, which won’t be representative for qualifying and both races. The drivers were eager to go and put in some laps since all of them went out. But five minutes into Free Practice the session and issues began between drivers. During his lap time, Mich Evans was hindered by Pascal Wehrlein, who tried to put his tyres into temperature. Sébastien Buemi was a bit on alternative testing, being on track where most of the drivers aren’t. He took first place with a 1:16.084.

Mistake for the 2025 world champion

Thirty minutes remaining and 15 of them were back in the pit. Something that the commentators noticed was that most of the drivers were doing laps using their energy. It means that all of them were more focused on the qualifying session than on the race. Oliver Rowland made a huge mistake, clipping the wall with his Nissan, bringing the red flag. He qualified it as a ‘stupid mistake’ on his radio, knowing the work that his mechanics will have to make to be ready for qualifying.

As it was still Free Practice, the clock was still running, making everyone lose time on track. It’s up to the race director to decide if he adds the time lost back and he decided to not do that in Jeddah. In total, they lost 7 minutes.

Lap times and more drama

Most of the drivers went back on track as soon as the green flag was waved and the lap times began to fall. Norman Nato took first place with a 1:15.581 time, followed by Mortara and Wehrlein. The latter improved his next lap with the record on the first sector. Dan Ticktum didn’t say his last word as he improved as well and took second place, only 0.060 behind the German.

Chaos began within the last two minutes of the session with Jean-Eric Vergne being under investigation for tyre pressure infringement. Josep Maria Martí was hindered by two slow cars in front of him while he was on a flying lap. A move that the Spanish driver was really not happy about. Taylor Barnard was also on his last flying lap when Lucas Di Grassi went back on the trajectory, which made the two cars almost collide. Let’s wait and see if he’s gonna take a penalty for that. In the end, Dan Ticktum confirmed his great form by finishing first with a 1:15.343 time. Jake Dennis finished second, 0.038 behind the leader and Pascal Wehrlein in third.