Saudi Arabian GP FP1 Results: What Happened In Free Practice 1

Your Sports Illustrated report of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Free Practice 1.

The first Free Practice Session of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix has ended. Fans have been eager to see how the performance in Bahrain will compare to the first street track of the season. 

The first Free Practice Session of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was an exciting one with Max Verstappen taking the top of the timesheet. Driving on soft tyres, he put in a lap time of 1:29.617.

In comparison, Charles Leclerc set the fastest time in the 2022 Saudi Arabian GP FP1, completing a lap in 1m 30.662s on soft tyres, a whole second slower, albeit with track changes this year.

Standout Moments

Sergio Perez was the first to put in a good time at the Jeddah track with him providing a timesheet leading time of 1:32.969 early in the practice session on soft tyres. Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc slotted in behind him at just over 4 tenths behind him, but on hard tyres. 

In fact, Perez was the only car on softs at this point, with the rest of the grid at the time using mediums and hards. 

Lewis Hamilton and George Russel sat around the bottom of the top 10 on hard tyres, behind the likes of Haas' Hulkenberg on the same tyres before quickly making their way up the sheet as they wore in their rubber.

Also on softs, Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, who shocked us with his performance at the Bahrain Grand Prix, nailed his first flying lap taking first on the timesheet before being overtaken by Hamilton on his hard tyres giving the team a little confidence... early days.

As FP1 progressed it was easy to see the dominance from Aston Martin and Red Bull with Alonso really showing his mettle. Max Verstappen, who waited over 20 minutes to leave the pit, complained of understeer on Turn 22. Similarly, Hamilton was also struggling with grip with him wanting to find half a second from his current runs. 

With just over ten minutes to go, Pierre Gasly was complaining to the Alpine team that he was struggling with his brakes, saying the brakes are "completely rubbish"

Issues

Lando Norris was shown a black and white flag for failing to follow the race director's instructions. There wasn't any confirmation on what exactly this is for, however, it is expected to be related to him missing a pitstop earlier on in the session.

Conclusion

With all drivers ending on soft tyres, the leaders were obviously Red Bull, followed by Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll in their Aston Martin AMR23s. Interestingly, Mercedes followed this in 5th and 6th place on the timesheet with Ferrari seemingly struggling to match their pace. 

Here's how to watch the next Practice Sessions.

Saudi Arabia FP1 Results

1. Max Verstappen
2. Sergio Perez
3. Fernando Alonso
4. Lance Stroll
5. George Russell
6. Lewis Hamilton
7. Carlos Sainz
8. Pierre Gasly
9. Alex Albon
10. Yuki Tsunoda
11. Charles Leclerc
12. Esteban Ocon
13. Nyck de Vries
14. Oscar Piastri
15. Nico Hulkenberg
16. Kevin Magnussen
17. Logan Sargeant
18. Valtteri Bottas
19. Zhou Guanyu
20. Lando Norris