World champion Max Verstappen secured the fastest time in the final training session for Formula 1 before the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The Dutchman was 0.196 seconds faster in his Red Bull in Jeddah than Charles Leclerc in his Ferrari. Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Pérez came third. Nico Hülkenberg didn’t get past 15th place in the inferior Haas car. After his clear victory at the opener in Bahrain a week ago, Verstappen will also be the top favorite in Saudi Arabia.
After Chinese Zhou Guanyu had an accident, training was interrupted for around ten minutes. The 24-year-old crashed his Sauber racing car violently into the track barrier with smoking tires. Zhou was apparently uninjured, but his company car was more severely damaged. “I lost the car,” he radioed apologetically to the pits.
The break was also annoying for Brit Oliver Bearman. The 18-year-old replaced Spaniard Carlos Sainz at Ferrari at short notice, who had to undergo surgery due to appendicitis. Bearman, who usually competes in the Formula 2 junior series, is also scheduled to start for the Scuderia in the Grand Prix on Saturday (6 p.m./Sky). In his only training session he finished tenth.
