Pierre Gasly surprised a surprise by going beyond the time sheet for Alpine de Lando Norris of McLaren in the first practice at the Saudi Grand Prix.
Gasly came out on the right track on fresh fresh tires a little later than most of the field and took advantage of the cooling – and improvement – conditions – monitoring of the leader of the EDGE Norris World Championship by seven thousandths of a second.
Having admitted to having followed a disappointing exhibition in Bahrain last weekend that McLaren’s car in 2025 forced him to move away from his favorite driving style, Norris could encourage his beat with his teammate Oscar Piastri by almost a tenth of a second.
Piastri, who won in Bahrain to close at less than three Norris points at the top of the ranking, survived an early fear when he cut one of the many waiting walls of the Jeddah Corniche circuit to take fourth behind Charles Leclerc de Ferrari.
Lewis Hamilton could not match the rhythm of teammate Leclerc while he finished five tenths from Gasly in eighth, a place in front of the world champion reigning Max Verstappen, who continued to fight with the balance of his Red Bull.
Williams produced a strong performance while Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz took the fifth and seventh, respectively, with George Russell of Mercedes with each other after having failed to maintain his impressive early rhythm on the average tire when the field went to the softs.
The second session on Friday, live on Sky Sports F1 at 6 p.m., is probably a better indicator of the competitive photo for the rest of the weekend, with it which takes place in the same lights as the qualifications on Saturday and the Sunday race.
More to follow …
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Look back on some of the most dramatic moments that took place on the Jeddah Corniche circuit
Friday April 18
- 3:55 p.m.: Qualification F2
- 4:40 p.m.: Press conference of the team’s bosses
- 5:45 p.m.: Practice of the Saudi GP two (the session begins at 6 p.m.)
- 7:25 p.m.: Qualification of the F1 Academy
- 8:10 p.m.: The F1 show
Saturday April 19
- 1:15 p.m.: F1 Academy Race 1
- 2:05 p.m.: Practice of the Saudi GP three (the session starts at 2:30 p.m.) *
- 4:10 p.m.: F2 Sprint
- 5:10 p.m.: Saudi GP qualification accumulation
- 6 p.m.: Saudi GP qualifications
Sunday April 20
- 1 p.m.: F1 Academy Race 2
- 2:20 p.m.: F2 features breed
- 4:30 p.m.: Accumulation of Saudi GP: Sunday Grand Prix
- 6 p.m.: The Saudi Grand Prix * *
- 8 p.m.: Saudi GP reaction: checkered flag
* Live on the main event of Sky Sports
Formula 1 completes its first 2025 triple head of 2025 in Jeddah with the Saudi Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with now – no contract, cancel at any time
