2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – Looking Back at Thursday’s Running in Jeddah

The opening day of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix brought plenty of action, with both Free Practice One and Two taking place on Thursday, due to the race taking place on Saturday.

The first practice session was topped by three-time world champion Max Verstappen – the perfect start to the weekend for the Dutchman as he aims to make it two wins from two races. The following practice session in the evening saw a strong performance from Fernando Alonso, topping the timesheets by more than two tenths.

There were certainly some talking points from both sessions, with things looking very open ahead of Friday, both in the midfield and at the front.

Verstappen Meets Expectations in First Practice

Verstappen was quick out of the blocks and set the pace during Thursday afternoon’s hour of free practice, ahead of Alonso and his Oracle Red Bull Racing teammate, Sergio Pérez.

The Dutchman finished the session just under two-tenths ahead of Alonso, thanks to an impressive lap time on the soft compound tyre. Pérez managed to get some good running for Red Bull, but the Mexican will be aiming to be closer to his teammate by qualifying. 

George Russell rounded out the top four for Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team, ahead of the Scuderia Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jr. The Spanish Ferrari driver was suffering with illness earlier in the week, but managed to get on track for Thursday’s practice!

It was fine margins in the top ten, with Lando Norris the fastest of the McLaren F1 Team drivers, ahead of Lewis Hamilton and Lance Stroll. Williams Racing will be encouraged by their performance in Practice One – Alex Albon rounded out the top ten. 

Valtteri Bottas was just outside the top ten in eleventh, although his teammate, Zhou Guanyu, was down in eighteenth. Daniel Ricciardo was an outlier in twelfth, as his fastest time of the session was set on the medium compound tyre. His teammate also set his fastest lap on mediums and found himself in sixteenth. 

Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly finished the hour in thirteenth and seventeenth. Logan Sargeant and Oscar Piastri struggled to match the pace of their teammates and found themselves down in fourteenth and fifteenth. 

Similarly to Visa Cash App RB, Haas F1 Team set their fastest times on medium tyres and finished the end of the session down at the bottom of the pack.

Fernando Alonso Tops Delayed Session

Alonso built on his good work in Practice One by topping the second session of the day, ahead of the Mercedes of Russell.

There was a ten minute delay to the session, so the teams were quick to get onto track and set their times. Bottas suffered an early spin at Turn 1, while there was plenty of impeding incidents, including one at Turn 10 between Sargeant and Hamilton.

The stewards confirmed that they will be investigating the incident between Hamilton and Sargeant. 

Alonso’s soft tyre run was the quickest of the lot, with Russell and Verstappen. Leclerc and Pérez rounded out the top five.

Stroll added to Aston Martin Armaco F1 Team’s good day’s work by finishing the session in sixth, although the Canadian driver was given a black and white flag for a track limits infringement. 

Sainz, Hamilton, Gasly and Piastri rounded out the top ten. Hamilton reported an issue with his W15, claiming he had no power, which meant he had to return to the pits.

Yuki Tsunoda was the fastest RB car in eleventh, ahead of Norris, Zhou and Albon. Ocon put together a respectable session finishing in fifteenth, despite Alpine’s troubles so far this season. The Frenchman was ahead of the Williams of Sargeant and the two Haas cars.

Ricciardo finished the day down in nineteenth, although the Australian set his lap time towards the start of the session.