The second event of the 2023 Formula One season got underway with two Free Practice sessions on Friday, March 17th, at the Corniche Circuit F1 street circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Formula One started racing at the circuit in 2021.

Red Bull led the pace with quickest times in FP1 and first and third quickest times in FP2. Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez led the charge, respectively.

"I am feeling a lot better after a few rough days of illness, it wasn't nice but I am feeling good now," said Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

"Today out on track was about fine tuning things, we had a positive day but there are still quite a few things we can do better," said Verstappen, adding "On the long runs we all seemed fairly close to each other but it's more because of managing the tyres because they don't really let you push around here at the moment."

Continuing his Bahrain GP success, Aston Martin's Fernando Alonzo was second quickest in FP2.

"We knew that Jeddah would present different challenges to Bahrain and it is almost like a second test here for everyone this weekend," said Aston Martin's Alonzo. "Overall, the day went smoothly for us as we are trying to optimise the setup and adjust to the high-speed nature of this circuit."

Alonzo's Aston Martin teammate Lance Stroll registered the seventh quickest time in FP2.

Alpine drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly showed some speed in FP2, registering the fourth and sixth quickest times of the session.

"We have plenty of data to work through to prepare ourselves for tomorrow's Qualifying where we aim for a much-improved performance from Bahrain to set ourselves up for a better Race on Sunday," said Pat Fry, Alpine's Chief Technical Officer. "A solid start with more to come."

"The characteristics here steer towards lower downforce with lots of high-speed corners," said Fry.

Both Ferrari's went out on track with new power units fitted to the SF-23s, as a precaution following Leclerc's retirement in Bahrain.

"We tested some new parts today and everything works as expected. It's difficult to get a sense of our competitiveness as everyone is on a different programme so far," said Ferrari's Charles LeClerc. "The feeling in the car is pretty good. We will try to maximize our qualifying tomorrow, but given that we will have a 10 place grid penalty on Sunday [due to the power unit swap], our main focus will be on making up those positions during the race."

All teams, but Williams driver, Alex Albon tested on soft tyre's in FP2.

"It was quite an interesting day, especially in the second free practice session," said Mario Isola, Pirelli Motorsport Director. "As expected, FP1 wasn't particularly representative in terms of tyre behaviour, characterised by notably high track evolution."

"On a track that was completely different to the opening round in Sakhir, the teams concentrated on car setup for the most part. The FP2 session was much more relevant, with nearly all the drivers focussing on the medium and the soft tyres." added Isola.

Pos	Driver		Team		Tyre	Time		Gap


1	Verstappen	Red Bull	S	1:29.603	154.163 mph
2	Alonso		Aston Martin	S	1:29.811	0.208
3	Perez		Red Bull	S	1:29.902	0.299
4	Ocon		Alpine		S	1:30.039	0.436
5	Russell		Mercedes	S	1:30.070	0.467
6	Gasly		Alpine		S	1:30.100	0.497
7	Stroll		Aston Martin	S	1:30.110	0.507
8	Hulkenberg	Haas		S	1:30.181	0.578
9	Leclerc		Ferrari		S	1:30.341	0.738
10	Sainz		Ferrari		S	1:30.592	0.989
11	Hamilton	Mercedes	S	1:30.599	0.996
12	Norris		McLaren		S	1:30.721	1.118
13	Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	S	1:30.776	1.173
14	Albon		Williams	M	1:30.810	1.207
15	Magnussen	Haas		S	1:30.820	1.217
16	Zhou		Alfa Romeo	S	1:30.837	1.234
17	de Vries	AlphaTauri	S	1:30.921	1.318
18	Sargeant	Williams	S	1:30.959	1.356
19	Piastri		McLaren		S	1:30.964	1.361
20	Bottas		Alfa Romeo	S	1:31.052	1.449

Pos	Driver		Team		Time		Gap

1	Verstappen	Red Bull	1:29.617	154.139 mph
2	Perez		Red Bull	1:30.100	0.483
3	Alonso		Aston Martin	1:30.315	0.698
4	Stroll		Aston Martin	1:30.577	0.960
5	Russell		Mercedes	1:30.771	1.154
6	Hamilton	Mercedes	1:30.787	1.170
7	Sainz		Ferrari		1:30.924	1.307
8	Gasly		Alpine		1:30.949	1.332
9	Albon		Williams	1:31.030	1.413
10	Tsunoda		AlphaTauri	1:31.110	1.493
11	Leclerc		Ferrari		1:31.118	1.501
12	Ocon		Alpine		1:31.181	1.564
13	de Vries	AlphaTauri	1:31.450	1.833
14	Piastri		McLaren		1:31.491	1.874
15	Hulkenberg	Haas		1:31.552	1.935
16	Magnussen	Haas		1:31.566	1.949
17	Sargeant	Williams	1:31.922	2.305
18	Bottas		Alfa Romeo	1:31.970	2.353
19	Zhou		Alfa Romeo	1:31.986	2.369
20	Norris		McLaren		1:32.149	2.532

(images provided by Aston Martin F1 Media & Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake))