The first practice session in Saudi Arabia started in hot and sunny weather at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. Unlike in Bahrain last weekend, all 20 regular F1 drivers were on track. No rookies this time.

It didn’t take long for problems to appear. Kimi Antonelli told Mercedes he felt a “massive vibration on the brake,” and Oscar Piastri had issues with a leaking drinks bottle.

Lando Norris was the first to set a good lap time with a 1 minute 31.887 on medium tyres, as teams quickly started their qualifying runs. Several teams brought updates to this race. McLaren, Red Bull and Ferrari made changes to their cars, while Sauber made the most changes overall. Piastri tested new McLaren parts, and both Red Bulls had an updated rear wing and engine cover.

Oliver Bearman had a scary moment when he locked up into Turn 1, hit the wall lightly, and ran off track. Luckily without major damage. Piastri also got very close to the wall later in the session.

Halfway through, Russell was still leading with a time set on medium tyres. Then drivers started using soft tyres, and Norris jumped to the top with a 1 minute 29.246. Piastri followed closely behind, making it a McLaren one two.

Max Verstappen was not happy with his car, saying it would not turn properly, and he struggled with the balance. Meanwhile, Gasly surprised everyone by going fastest with a 1 minute 29.239, just 0.007 seconds quicker than Norris. Leclerc took third, and the top three were separated by less than one tenth of a second.

Carlos Sainz got annoyed when a Ferrari was in his way in the high speed corners and told his team to be more careful. When his engineer gave him advice, he replied “I know what I’m doing.”

At the end of FP1, Gasly was fastest, followed by Norris and Leclerc. Piastri was fourth, and Alex Albon impressed with fifth for Williams. George Russell ended up sixth, just ahead of Sainz. Lewis Hamilton was eighth, and the Red Bull drivers, Verstappen and Tsunoda, completed the top ten. Liam Lawson drew post-session attention from the stewards after twice crossing into the painted pit entry zone.