2024 F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 results

Thomas Maher 07 Mar 2024 2:34 PM

Max Verstappen, 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen set the pace in FP1 for the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Check out the complete results from the first practice session at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, where Max Verstappen set the fastest time.

The Red Bull driver picked up where he left off in Bahrain by heading the field in the first practice session at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, coming home two-tenths of a second clear of Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

Max Verstappen heads the times in Saudi Arabia first practice

With Mercedes’ George Russell setting the pace in the first half of the session as the drivers put in their first laps of the weekend in the unrepresentative daytime conditions in Jeddah, it took Max Verstappen two goes on the soft tyres to take his eventual top spot.

On the first soft tyre runs, it was Russell who had the measure of Verstappen as he went 0.003 seconds clear of the Dutch driver, but, after recharging his energy systems, improved significantly to go more than a third of a second clear of the Mercedes driver – but still a second and a half off the pole time from last year.

In the closing stages, having swapped to the soft, Fernando Alonso went second quickest and just 0.186 down on Verstappen, while last week’s runner-up, Sergio Perez, moved up to third with a time two-tenths down on Verstappen.

With Russell shuffled down to fourth by the chequered flag, the Ferrari drivers finished fifth and sixth after doing battle with various black plastic bags that littered the circuit during the session, leading Leclerc to exclaim that the circuit was ‘like Mario Kart’.

Sainz had been a doubt for the session after being ill during the media day on Wednesday, but took his cockpit for the first practice session.

The second session will take place on Thursday evening, under the spotlights and much more representative conditions ahead of Saturday’s night race.

First Practice (FP1) Results – 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix