McLaren dominates long runs after impressive Friday in Saudi Arabia

After dominating proceedings at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, McLaren look set to continue their fine start to the season, with their long run pace looking extremely promising.

Piastri dominates race simulations with McLaren

Lando Norris, due to Yuki Tsunoda's crash at the end of FP2, did not really have the chance to complete a longer run, but still topped the standings in FP2.

The Brit did two laps on the mediums, with only one real long-run lap, in which he recorded a 1:35:039. Norris's teammate, Oscar Piastri, was able to do four laps within his long run. In these four laps, he was the fastest on average. His fastest lap was a 1:33:795 during the race simulation, with his average time sitting at 1:33:949, with McLaren showing far more dominance in that regard.

Lewis Hamilton was slightly slower than Piastri with his Ferrari. The Brit completed two laps on the mediums with times of 1:35:320 and 1:35:460, giving him an average of 1:35:390. His teammate Leclerc also completed two laps, averaging a lap time of 1:34:715 on the mediums.

Verstappen's to be off the pace again

Despite finishing behind the McLarens in the second free practice session, Max Verstappen said that Red Bull Racing looked better in terms of performance, but that the long run could still be improved. But how do the Dutchman and Red Bull really stand in terms of race speed compared to McLaren?

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During the long runs, Verstappen was mainly in the low 1:34s. He started his longer run with a 1:34:917. This went down to his third lap, where he posted a 1:34:714. After that, the times went up a bit. Of the laps you can really count under the long run, a 1:35:824 was the slowest lap, meaning his average was a 1:35:046.

Tsunoda only completed two laps of the race simulation before his crash. He drove a 1:35:173 and a 1:35:259 on the mediums, meaning the Red Bull Racing driver averaged a 1:35:216 over those two laps, more than one and a half tenths slower than Verstappen.

Gasly with faster times than Verstappen

Notably, Alpine was also fast during the race simulations. Pierre Gasly, who already surprised with the fastest time over a single lap in FP1, did not disappoint in the long run either. In three laps on the mediums, he averaged a 1:34:540. That's only a half tenth off Verstappen.

However, it's unclear how much fuel was used in the session. This plays a large role in the lap times, making it impossible to truly determine how the teams really stand in relation to each other.

This article was written in collaboration with Cas van de Kleut