Verstappen delivers devastating marker in Saudi Arabian GP first practice

Ewan Gale
Friday 17 March 2023 14:34 - Updated: 16:51

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