The Friday in F1 Saudi Arabian GP went by fast as McLaren kept its nose ahead but with competition close by, while Williams showed their hand against Alpine.
It was fast paced Friday in F1 Saudi Arabian GP where McLaren took the top spot especially in FP2 when it mattered. Lando Norris showed pace amid low confidence phase ahead of teammate Oscar Piastri, who continued to be up there to not loosen his grip in the potential title fight.
The two are still worried about the pack behind since all the three F1 teams have at least one car in the mix. It was Red Bull there with the one lap pace on Friday. Max Verstappen felt much better than Bahrain, especially on the one lap pace but didn’t feel comfortable as much on race pace.
Teammate Yuki Tsunoda did all the hard work to be close to the Dutchman, but made a small error towards the end of FP2 to clip the wall and end it on the wall. The Japanese driver has a good chance to score well or be involved in the fight inside the Top 5 after showing good pace.
On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton had an opposite run in the Ferrari after further struggles. The Brit couldn’t get the tyres working consistently to be far down the order, while teammate Charles Leclerc managed to but still didn’t feel as comfortable to challenge the McLaren pair.
For the Mercedes pair, both George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli had a messy run especially in FP2. The latter even brushed the wall towards the end to limit his running, as the former didn’t feel they took the step and hopes they can in FP3 and qualifying.
Norris: “I think at the minute we feel confident but the others are not far behind. I was probably hoping for a bigger gap than what we had today. We know we’re fast, we know we have a great car but certainly not comfortable, not as comfortable as what we would like. Nothing more than that, keep our heads down, focus on ourselves and see what we can do. Always just feels chaotic around here because it’s so fast. A lot of walls, a lot of near-misses. I think today has really been a day of trying to work on my driving, working on myself more than probably trying to work on the car. I think a good start to the weekend, productive, gaining confidence, gaining feeling. So from what I wanted to achieve today I think on the right tracks.”
Verstappen: “We tried some different things with the car, trying to find maybe a different direction with it. I think we learned a lot from it, it’s still not where I want it to be. Personally, I don’t really look at the gaps, I think at the end of the day you have to just go from your own feeling and what you feel in the car. Over one lap it’s a bit better but then the long runs they were very tough still for us. Grip levels are different but also the circuit is completely different so it’s very hard to compare but it’s still of course that we want to be faster. It’s difficult to say really. I think one standout of course again is McLaren being very competitive but from our side there’s still quite a bit of work to do and things to understand.”
Hamilton: “Not the greatest. I think getting the tyres working today was the issue from our side. It’s nothing to do with the team, it’s just we were struggling to get the tyres working. Normally on Saturday it goes backwards, but there’s not a lot of backwards for me to go from where I am. Hopefully, overnight we will make some improvements to the car. There were a few bits through the session that felt good and just once we get to the soft tyre, it’s not there. We’ll make some changes overnight and hope tomorrow we can come back stronger. I don’t know. For me, I’m just seeing if I can get in the top 10 at the moment.”
Russell: “It was a slightly messy day from our side. We didn’t manage to get too many clean laps in, owing to both traffic and a few efforts where we didn’t quite the tyres in the right window. We tried some different things across both cars, which was definitely valuable learning for both Kimi and myself. I think we’ve found the direction we will move in now. We were probably stronger in FP1 than FP2 ultimately. We didn’t quite take the step forward with the car that we were hoping too, but I don’t think there’s anything that we can’t improve overnight to come back stronger for Qualifying tomorrow. It was a shame not to get the long run data in due to the red flag in FP2, but everyone else is in the same boat. It’s not controversial to say that McLaren looked like they were clear in front but I’m hopeful we can be in the fight for best of the rest once again as we head into the weekend.”
Tsunoda: “I just turned in too much and clipped the wall with the inside wheel and had damage. After that, I just had no control. Apologies to the team. The pace was looking good so it’s a shame. We had limited time on the long run, caused by myself, so I can’t really complain. I didn’t want it to end up this way. My last soft run was also compromised with the warmup and everything, so we don’t have a great read for qualifying but so far, the weekend has felt pretty okay. Importantly, my confidence level is still pretty good here.”
The surprise of the pick was Alpine’s Pierre Gasly who ended up on top in FP1 albeit in low grip and different conditions when most didn’t push as much. The Frenchman acknowledged that he is not going to be fighting at the top, but feels confident about good points position.
Teammate Jack Doohan didn’t fancy the soft tyre as much, but felt better on the medium compound. Their main rival should be Williams where Carlos Sainz found another step to be a comfortable Top 10 runner. He feels a bit more confident in the car, if not 100% on the comfort.
Teammate Alexander Albon also had a good run and is hopeful of a Top 10 run on Saturday and Sunday. The two teams may find competition from the Visa Cash App RB pair, as Isack Hadjar felt they had a bit more on the table, while Liam Lawson concurred, even though he is still learning the circuit.
Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg found some pace to be in the Top 10 in FP2, as the German felt they could make steady progress throughout the day. For teammate Gabriel Bortoleto, he has to rely on the German’s data after missing whole of second session due to fuel leak between the runnings.
Having done well in Bahrain, Haas didn’t have enough legs in Saudi Arabia. Oliver Bearman didn’t readily felt confident enough especially with the brakes. Both he and Esteban Ocon are not sure of their true performance, as Aston Martin pair Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll fall in the same category.
Sainz: “A positive first day for us here in Jeddah. We’ve made some good steps forward from FP1 to FP2, trying some different things with the set-up and my driving style to try to extract more from the car. The lap on the Soft tyre was proof of those steps and, although it’s only Friday, the feeling around this tricky track was positive overall. It’s just little steps with trying to adapt my driving style a bit to the car, little steps with set-up, trying to get it into a better window. It’s a bit my driving and the limitations that we have this year and we’re trying to make little steps. Some things seemed to work, others didn’t. We did a decent lap on softs that put us quite high on the timesheets today. Let’s see if we can keep it up tomorrow. I hope so. I’m trying so many different things with my set-up and my driving that for sure, you see progress.
“Sometimes I try something but I go backwards and that then makes me go forwards, because I know which direction I don’t need to go in. The same applies to my driving. I try little things with my driving style and the switches in the car and sometimes I go backwards, but sometimes, it helps me go forwards. It’s an adaptation process and the time that I am giving myself to understand these things. I was warned it was going to take time and it is taking time, but when I get it, I’ll be there. So far, it has been hard to get because of our difficulties with my adaptation process and things not going our way, but hopefully this weekend is a good step.”
Gasly: “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.”
Hadjar: “It was hard to get the balance together today, I feel like there is still room for improvement, which is reassuring because I know it’s not the best we can do. It’s the fastest street circuit that exists, so it requires a lot of focus, it’s really tough but really enjoyable. I will definitely be better tomorrow after a night of sleep. These cars give you so much confidence, we will be fighting for Q3 tomorrow, but making it is a different story.”
Alonso: “We managed to get some clean laps in today, but it looks like the pace is a little behind where we want it to be. There will be a lot of traffic management in Qualifying and you need to have some luck too. We will look at the data tonight and hopefully put together the best package for tomorrow and try our best to challenge for the top ten.”
Bearman: “FP1 was difficult. I was struggling with similar issues to what I had in Bahrain practice sessions, just lacking confidence on the brakes and having a few lock-ups. We made a change for FP2, we put the brakes back from a race where they worked very well, and that was the case again, it was much better in the afternoon. On the other hand, we suffered a little bit on performance runs in FP2 missing a little bit, especially jumping onto the soft tire, so we have a bit of work to do. It’s difficult to say where we are, it’s really tight, but I think if we put everything together we can be in the mix, we just have a few things to finetune.”
Bortoleto: “It definitely wasn’t the day I had hoped for here in Jeddah – it’s my first time driving this circuit in a Formula One car, so missing out on valuable track time was frustrating. Unfortunately, a fuel leak discovered after FP1 meant we couldn’t run in the second session. These things can happen, and the team did everything they could to fix the issue – I’m grateful for their effort – but it just wasn’t possible in the time available. I still managed to complete a few laps in FP1, which gave me an initial feel for the circuit. It’s encouraging to see Nico finishing the day in the top ten; that gives us a strong reference. Now it’s all about learning as much as I can from the data and from Nico to be fully prepared for tomorrow and to make the most of the final practice session ahead of qualifying.”
Here’s how FP1 in F1 Saudi Arabian GP panned out
Here’s how FP2 in F1 Saudi Arabian GP panned out
