Hamilton under investigation as Alonso tops delayed FP2

Fernando Alonso gave Aston Martin hope that a step forward has been taken from F1's season opener by topping the delayed second practice session for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The second hour of running was put back 10 minutes whilst bolts were checked on drain covers in the pit lane but when track action did get underway, it was the two-time champion who set the benchmark of a 1:28.827, finishing 0.230secs faster than Mercedes driver George Russell.

Max Verstappen followed up his fastest time from FP1 to finish third quickest at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit as traffic issues dominated the session.

Hamilton under investigation

With focus placed on single-lap runs in more representative conditions compared to the first hour of running, the traffic issues became apparent, particularly through sector one.

Lewis Hamilton faces an investigation into dangerous driving after Logan Sargeant was forced to take evasive action in his Williams on the exit of turn 10, the American keeping control despite a quick change of direction.

"Mate, it's too dangerous," fumed Sargeant over team radio as Ferrari's Carlos Sainz, who had the best seat to view the issue, added: "What Hamilton did there was super dangerous."

In his defence, Hamilton told Mercedes: "I didn't realise there was someone on a lap.

"I was trying to get out of the way of Sainz and all of a sudden there was a Williams."

But that wasn't the only issue related to traffic as a number of drivers got away with near misses, not least Hamilton's teammate Russell, who was squeezed up to the wall on the run to the final corner by RB's Yuki Tsunoda, leading to an expletive-headlined radio message.

Charles Leclerc finished fourth fastest for Ferrari ahead of the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez.

Lance Stroll was sixth fastest, some half a second down on teammate Alonso though comfortably quicker than both Sainz and Hamilton - the seven-time champion struggling with the balance of his W15 and pitted in the final five minutes with an apparent power issue.

Pierre Gasly delivered what was easily the best session of 2024 for Alpine to finish ninth, three-tenths faster than teammate Esteban Ocon who ended 15th fastest.

Tsunoda was 11th ahead of Lando Norris, Zhou Guanyu and Alex Albon, who ensured 14 drivers were within a second of the fastest effort of the session.

Sargeant ended 16th, Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg were in formation for Haas, with Daniel Ricciardo and Valtteri Bottas rounding out the field - the Finn recovering from a spin at turn one early in the session.