Verstappen delivers devastating marker in Saudi Arabian GP first practice
Verstappen delivers devastating marker in Saudi Arabian GP first practice
Max Verstappen lay down a daunting early marker for Red Bull in first practice for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
F1's return to the Jeddah Corniche Circuit saw the two-time champion lead team-mate Sergio Perez and Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso with a lap time of one minute, 29.617secs - an effort 1.4s down on Perez's pole position lap last year.
The lap was half a second up on Perez, underlining Verstappen's dominance in recent times.
Perez demonstrated the tightness of the pit lane with an early three-point turn out of the Red Bull garage, with some assistance from his mechanics.
Out on track, Ferrari's Carlos Sainz narrowly avoided contact with a slow-moving AlphaTauri, labelling the situation as "dangerous".
Changes have been made to the circuit over the winter for safety reasons and tweaks to the apex at turn 22 have sharpened the chicane - a point drivers struggled to come to terms with as a multitude of cars ran wide.
Verstappen struggled with understeer in his RB19 when he took to the track for the first time 22 minutes into the session, yet despite recovering from a stomach bug and his difficulties behind the wheel, the Dutchman set the benchmark.
Alonso continued Aston Martin's strong start to the year with what seemed an easy ride into third, behind Perez, who complained of having 'no front end' in his Red Bull.
Lance Stroll is still on the road to recovery after breaking his wrists during pre-season but was only two-and-a-half-tenths slower than Alonso in fourth.
Mercedes brought a small raft of upgrades to the W14 after a disappointing first weekend of the season and saw George Russell and Lewis Hamilton finish fifth and sixth, over a second down on Verstappen.
Ferrari switched power units on both cars for this weekend, with Sainz ending the first hour seventh, ahead of Alpine's Pierre Gasly who was left furious with "rubbish brakes" in his A523.
Alex Albon was ninth for Williams ahead of the AlphaTauri of Yuki Tsunoda, who rounded out the top 10 1.4 seconds down on Verstappen and just 0.008secs ahead of Charles Leclerc.
Timings in the first session are unrepresentative, however, with FP2 set to give clearer data under the floodlights ahead of the weekend.
Saudi Arabian Grand Prix first practice results
1. Max Verstappen [Red Bull] - 1:29.617
2. Sergio Perez [Red Bull] - +0.483secs
3. Fernando Alonso [Aston Martin] - +0.698s
4. Lance Stroll [Aston Martin] - +0.960s
5. George Russell [Mercedes] - +1.154s
6. Lewis Hamilton [Mercedes] - +1.170s
7. Carlos Sainz [Ferrari] - +1.307s
8. Pierre Gasly [Alpine] - +1.332s
9. Alex Albon [Williams] - +1.413s
10. Yuki Tsunoda [AlphaTauri] - +1.493s
11. Charles Leclerc [Ferrari] - +1.501s
12. Esteban Ocon [Alpine] - +1.564s
13. Nyck de Vries [AlphaTauri] - +1.833s
14. Oscar Piastri [McLaren] - +1.874s
15. Nico Hulkenberg [Haas] - +1.935s
16. Kevin Magnussen [Haas] - +1.949s
17. Logan Sargeant [Williams] - +2.305s
18. Valtteri Bottas [Alfa Romeo] - +2.353s
19. Zhou Guanyu [Alfa Romeo] - +2.369s
20. Lando Norris [McLaren] - +2.532s
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F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
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