Gasly the surprise pacesetter in first Saudi Arabian GP practice

Pierre Gasly unexpectedly topped first practice at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix ahead of title leader Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc. Gasly set the pace at 1m29.239s in his Alpine, which ended the session with the quickest time in the final split. The Frenchman’s sole run on soft tires — the softest compound Pirelli has ever brought to Jeddah — put him 0.007s ahead of McLaren’s Norris, who was fastest in the first sector. Leclerc completed the top three, his Ferrari just 0.07s off the pace after completing a session-high 28 laps and 0.032s ahead of Bahrain Grand Prix winner Oscar Piastri in fourth, despite the Australian complaining of an overheating seat in his McLaren. The afternoon session, unrepresentative of the night-time qualifying and race conditions, started with the track temperature sizzling at 122 degrees F, though the mercury declined by more than 40 degrees F by the end of the hour. It meant drivers were allowed to focus more on accumulating laps and confidence around the super-fast street-style circuit rather than spending time finessing setup, which will come in the more representative evening practice session later today. Alex Albon was fifth for Williams and 0.367s off the pace despite complaining of a lack of balance by the end of the session. He was 0.012s faster than George Russell, who ended the hour reporting an unusual feeling with the brakes of his Mercedes, and 0.173s faster than Williams teammate Carlos Sainz. Lewis Hamilton was eighth and 0.576s off the pace in the second Ferrari. Max Verstappen was just 0.003s behind Hamilton but complained that he “just turn the car” into the first two turns and of having “no balance, basically” through the middle split. He was just 0.003s quicker than Red Bull teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who completed the top 10. Liam Lawson was 11th for Racing Bulls after just 19 laps — more than only teammate Isack Hadjar down in 15th, who completed just 15 laps — after the team battled technical issues during the hour. Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg was 12th ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who started the session with massive brake vibrations aboard his Mercedes and Fernando Alonso. Hadjar set a session-low 15 laps but finished ahead of Jack Doohan and Lance Stroll. Oliver Bearman had to change his front wing after tapping the wall in a big lock-up early in the session, damaging his right endplate but otherwise getting away with the collision unscathed. Esteban Ocon and Gabriel Bortoleto completed the order in 19th and 20th respectively.