Max Verstappen blazed to the top in F1’s FP1 in Saudi Arabia, clocking a 1:29.659, with a good practice for Carlos Sainz who finished 6th despite being ill.
Once again there were tricky conditions due to the wind.
The incognite of the day was Carlos Sainz which – as Sky Sport F1 Italy reported – didn’t eat and sleep, but was in the car nonetheless.
In the first part of the session, the best lap was made by George Russell: 1:30.806, with three drivers – Verstappen, Leclerc, and Alonso – within 1 tenth.
The winner of the first race of the season needed more laps to be within the top range.
Surprisingly, driver Sergio Perez was the best from Red Bull, placing second behind a faster Russell. It seemed that the #88 car didn’t have problems, differently from Lewis Hamilton, who complained about rear bouncing. Esteban Ocon’s Alpine faced the same issues.
The second half started with a new leader – it was Lando Norris with the best lap, a 1:30.428, with soft tires. A few minutes later, Max Verstappen and then George Russell stole the lead from him.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc had no chance to improve his lap times because of traffic. Better than him was Carlos Sainz, who did good laps after a terrible beginning of his Saudi Arabian GP weekend.
Verstappen was the first driver to go under the time of 1:30.000; placing a 1:29.659 with 20 minutes to the end of the session.
There were different strategies throughout the grid. RB’s Daniel Ricciardo placed twelfth fastest, while Williams’ Logan Sargeant took a big risk after finding a Ferrari on the racing line through a high speed corner.