McLaren headed the field at the end of the first day of practice for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. At the track that runs alongside the Jeddah Corniche, the pair of papaya team drivers set the fastest times in FP2, the evening session run in identical conditions to those the drivers will face tomorrow and Sunday in qualifying and the race, making it the more representative of the two. Lando Norris was quickest with a 1’28”267, while Oscar Piastri was second in 1’28”430.
Today’s best time was just over half a second quicker than that from last year’s second session, when Alonso lapped in 1’28”827, when temperatures were actually a little cooler, with the 2024 event taking place in March. It was also set on a harder compound – C4 as opposed to C5 – as this year, Pirelli has brought a trio of dry weather tyres that are one step softer.
As for FP1, Pierre Gasly was quickest for Alpine in a time of 1’29”239, 420 thousandths faster than Max Verstappen’s time from the same session last year.
A sea of yellow and red with the odd flash of white would sum up the colour chart of today’s two hours of free practice. Only four drivers from two teams, Ocon and Bearman (Haas) plus Sainz (Williams) in FP and Albon (Williams) in FP2, used one of the two sets of Hards available, while the rest of the field used two sets of Medium and two sets of Soft each.
Pierre Gasly – Fastest in FP1
“Overall I am pleased with our Friday Practice today. I had a great feeling in the car in Free Practice 1 and it is always nice to top a session even if it is only Practice. I felt like the car was good enough to push right away, which is a good sign on a high-speed circuit like this one. It was tricky at times and we struggled a little more in Free Practice 2 with general grip. We know this session is more representative to what we will experience for Qualifying tomorrow, so certainly that gives us some things to understand and get on top of ahead of tomorrow’s running. We’ll take it session by session; it is all very tight as usual with just a tenth or two splitting a number of cars. We are not too far away, though, there is room for improvement and we just need to nail it tomorrow.”
Lando Norris – Fastest in FP2
“A good start to the weekend and a productive first day on track, getting comfy in the car and building confidence. We’ve got good data available with plenty of laps recorded, so I’ll keep working hard overnight with the team, focusing on the different areas we’ve identified in preparation for tomorrow’s Qualifying.”
Mario Isola – Pirelli Director of Motorsport
“It was a fairly straightforward day, apart from the red flag at the end of FP2, which prevented all the drivers from extending their long runs, which are so important for the rest of the weekend. In fact, while we and the teams have gathered a good amount of data overall, it is possibly not enough to get a clear picture of tyre behaviour over long runs under the same conditions the drivers will face in the race. But, on this fast and demanding Jeddah street circuit, interruptions are to be expected.
“From what we have seen so far, bringing a step softer trio of compounds has not significantly altered the overall picture. From the few meaningful long runs in the second session, we saw not much graining and that only on some cars. Furthermore, it was clear today that this phenomenon remained largely the same from one session to the next, which means it could be a factor to consider when it comes to managing degradation during the race. In terms of lap times, the degradation level was essentially similar to last year’s, or perhaps just slightly higher. Therefore, it’s hard to see there being a major change in strategy, with the one-stop on paper the quickest route, while the two-stop is a bit more competitive than before but not sufficiently so to be a valid alternative.”
