Alpine’s Pierre Gasly set the fastest lap during the opening practice session for Formula 1’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on Friday afternoon.
In hot and sunny conditions at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit Gasly posted a time of 1:29.239s on Soft tyres to finish just 0.007s clear of championship leader Lando Norris.
F1 2025 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – FP1 Results
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was third-fastest, within a tenth of pacesetter Gasly, while Oscar Piastri was also in the mix in fourth place in the sister McLaren.
Williams had a promising start to the weekend – after its first non-score of the season in Bahrain – with Alex Albon fifth, and Carlos Sainz, who did not race in Jeddah in 2024 due to appendicitis, in seventh.
They were split by the lead Mercedes of George Russell, who was in contention on Medium tyres before fading further down the order when the field switched to Softs.
Lewis Hamilton was eighth overall for Ferrari, adrift of team-mate Leclerc, while Red Bull pair Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda rounded out the top 10.
Verstappen complained that he “just can’t turn the car” through the first sequence of corners and was also ill at ease with the RB21 through the high-speed corners.
Racing Bulls spent a prolonged period in the garage though both Liam Lawson and Isack Hadjar were able to return to the track during the closing stages.
Lawson slotted into 11th while Hadjar moved up to 15th in the final few minutes of proceedings.
Nico Hulkenberg was an eye-catching 12th for a Sauber team that has struggled for performance across recent grands prix, while Kimi Antonelli made a couple of errors on his way to 13th place for Mercedes.
Fernando Alonso was the faster Aston Martin driver in 14th spot, with Lance Stroll in 17th place.
Jack Doohan was unable to replicate the heroics of Alpine team-mate Gasly and finished in 16th spot, almost a second down, while Haas was slowest of the crop, with Esteban Ocon and Ollie Bearman 18th and 19th respectively.
Bearman brushed the wall at Turn 1 after locking up under braking though was able to return the car to the garage for a quick once-over and continued his programme.
Sauber rookie Gabriel Bortoleto brought up the rear of the 20-car field.
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