Charles Leclerc beat Max Verstappen to the quickest time in second practice for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, however, his session ended early after he touched the wall.

The Monegasque, who went quickest in opening practice at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, clocked a 1m 30.074s to finish 0.140s clear of Red Bull’s Verstappen.

But with 20 minutes to go, Leclerc hit the wall at Turn 4 and then backed off before limping back to the pits to allow his team to inspect his F1-75.

Verstappen’s best lap was set on the medium tyre, the Dutchman suffering a snap at Turn 2 on his first run, which forced him to back out of it.

His second run was then ruined by a Virtual Safety Car that was required after the Haas of Kevin Magnussen stopped out on track (below) with a suspected power unit issue.

Carlos Sainz, who, like his Ferrari team mate, had a little kiss with the wall, was third quickest, with the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez fourth.

The Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and George Russell showed improved pace as the temperatures dropped and attention turned to performance in the most representative session of the day.

Hamilton, who asked for a seat change halfway through the session to help lift him higher in the car, was fifth and 0.439s off the pace, with team mate Russell a tenth of a second back in P6.

McLaren showed reasonable pace, with Lando Norris seventh after his soft tyre run – a fraction clear of eighth-place Esteban Ocon, who had the edge over Alpine team mate Fernando Alonso (P11) once more.