Max Verstappen
gave a new sample that he is the great candidate to revalidate his two-time
Formula 1
championship in the street of Jeddah, where he dominated the training sessions for the first day of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The Dutchman, who arrived a few hours after getting on
Red Bull
because a
stomach virus
prevented him from traveling earlier, was
half a second faster
than his teammate
Sergio Pérez
in morning practice and then beat
the Spanish
Fernando Alonso by
208 thousandths
, who had another great performance with the
Aston Martin
.
“I think we had a positive day, but
there are still some things we can do better
.
Still, I think we're all very close, so it definitely won't be like Bahrain,"
said the winner of the first date of the season, two weeks ago at the Sakhir circuit, and this Friday he set the pace again.
With the best car on the grid, Verstappen was
the only driver capable of driving under the barrier of one and a half minutes per lap
and always surpassed his Mexican teammate, who took pole position at this GP last year.
When Checo
was asked
if the Dutchman will be his main rival, the man from Guadalajara wished:
"Hopefully yes! That will mean that we are in a very strong position. But I hope that some of the rival teams will step up
. "
Fernando Alonso reached second place in the second training session.
Photo EFE/STR
In addition to the great performance of Verstappen and the Austrian team, which made it 1-2 in the first practice, Aston Martin stood out.
Although in the second practice Lance Stroll's car fell to seventh place, in the morning the team of millionaire Lawrence Stroll
put their two cars ahead of the Mercedes
of
George Russell
and
Lewis Hamilton
and also the Ferrari of
Carlos Sainz
, who she placed seventh at 1.3 seconds.
The Italian team is still unable to recover from a start without a podium and with the abandonment of
Charles Leclerc
.
In the second practice in Saudi Arabia, held in conditions similar to those in which the race will take place and in which the times were improved with eleven drivers locked in a second, the Monegasque - who will penalize ten positions on Sunday and had finished
12th
in the first- finished ninth and the Spanish Sainz, tenth.
Both were ahead of Hamilton's Mercedes
but behind Nico Hulkenberg's Haas
.
Charles Leclerc did not have a good performance this Friday and on Sunday he will penalize with ten positions at the start.
Photo EFE/EPA/STR
For its part,
Alpine
-who had not had the best start to the World Championship either- showed strong signs of improvement with
Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly in fourth and sixth place
, respectively, in the fastest session.
Among them was Russell's Mercedes, fifth.
The activity in Saudi Arabia will continue this Saturday with the third session of free trials, scheduled for 10:30 a.m. in Argentina, where qualifying will begin at 2:00 p.m., the same time as the race on Sunday.
Television will be in charge of Star+.
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