Leclerc leads the way on Friday at Saudi Arabian GP

Charles Leclerc again topped the timesheets despite tapping the wall during Free Practice 2 for the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

He headed Max Verstappen by just over 0.1s after the second of the day’s 60-minute sessions despite sitting out the final moments with a broken steering rod.

The start of FP2 was overshadowed by an emergency meeting to discuss the attack of an oil facility near the Jeddah Corniche Street Circuit.

Concluding as the session was scheduled to begin, it resulted in a 15-minute delay to proceedings.

It triggered a busy session, with traffic proving more of an issue than had been in opening practice.

Conditions were far more representative since night had fallen, the earlier session held in the evening sun.

Alfa Romeo Sauber were first out, Valtteri Bottas ahead of Zhou Guanyu to kick off the on-track action.

That resulted in a 1:31.802s lap for Bottas, a time set on the yellow-walled medium rubber.

Carlos Sainz soon moved to the top of the timesheets when he recorded a 1:31.382s, giving him a 0.4s advantage.

That lasted only until Leclerc emerged to record a 1:30.216s, also on the medium compound.

By halfway through the session, Leclerc had gone faster still with a 1:30.074s, heading Verstappen.

Mercedes meanwhile continued to struggle with porpoising, George Russell reporting ‘hardcore’ bouncing at high speed.

Having completed only two laps in Free Practice 1, Kevin Magnussen’s session came to an early end with a suspected hydraulic fault.

The Dane had reported an engine issue, only for his team to advise he was clear for another push lap.

Replays suggest the damage was done after riding the kerbing at Turn 11, his car recovered with the Virtual Safety Car deployed.

A brush with the wall for Leclerc at Turn 4 saw the Monegasque limp back to the pits with 20 minutes remaining where he would end his session.

The Bahrain Grand Prix winner clipped the apex wall on drivers’ left, the merest of brushes enough to break a steering rob and end his day.

Carlos Sainz also had a moment, his exiting Turn 13 which saw him graze the right-hand side of his Ferrari on the barrier.

Though he returned to the pits, Ferrari confirmed he would be unable to take any further part in the session.

Verstappen’s best lap of 1:30.214s was not truly representative as it was set on the medium compound tyre versus the soft used by Leclerc.

The gap between them is therefore even less that it seems, and could even see the Red Bull driver ahead when the delta between the compounds is taken into account.

Lando Norris ended the session inside the top 10, recording the seventh fastest time for McLaren, just 0.661s away from Leclerc’s best.

However, Daniel Ricciardo was only 15th fastest, and 1.453s away from the lead Ferrari in a field that saw the top 19 covered by less than 1.8s.

There were no other great surprises in a session that was otherwise dominated by chatter surrounding the nearby attack, and how the sport would respond.

It did so by affirming the race would go on, a sentiment first made by the event promoters and followed up in the moments after Free Practice 2 ended by Formula 1 itself.

And so one final hour of practice remains on Saturday, beginning at 01:00 AEDT (Sunday morning), before qualifying at 04:00 AEDT.

Results: Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Free Practice 2