Pierre Gasly secured the best time in the first free training for the Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia in 2025. The alpine pilot mastered the city course in Dschidda in 1: 29.239 minutes and referred Lando Norris (McLaren) and Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) by 0.007 and 0.070 seconds to places 2 and 3.
But before the Alpine fans for the champagne for Sunday Kaltzstellen: the training session was not too meaningful. Similar to a week ago in Bahrain, qualifying and running are also driven under floodlights in Saudi Arabia at night.
The conditions will be very different. Consequently, the teams were only hunted in the first hour of the weekend with the handbrake attracted.
Regardless of this, Max Verstappen (Red Bull) was not satisfied with the handling, especially in the fast curves – and there are some of them in Dschidda. “I have zero balance,” he scolded on the box radio in between. In the end he took ninth place, a good half a second behind Gasly’s best time and only 0.003 seconds before his team -mate Yuki Tsunoda (10th).
Red Bull tries around
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner says in an interview with Sky: “This weekend we try out a few different things, so in this session it was mainly about being a little more radical at the set-up. So we now have a lot to analyze.
“Especially in curve 1, Max loses about 0.3 to 0.4 seconds. The round that I saw was compared to Lando. In the rest of the round, it is about a tenth. It is about getting this bite, bringing the tires and brakes into the right window. There is obviously still to look at a lot so that everything is ready when you start the round,” explains Horner.
Fourth, Oscar Piatri (McLaren), fifth Alexander Albon (Williams) and sixth George Russell (Mercedes), who complained about his brakes towards the end of the training on the boxing radio. Carlos Sainz (Williams) and Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) completed the top 8. And Nico Hülkenberg (clean) became twelfth with 0.677 seconds.
At the end of the session, Piatri reported that his seat was quite hot – more extreme than normal, and up to the shoulders. Of course, particularly unfavorable in a heat race. His drinking bottle didn’t work properly either. That was the case a week ago in Bahrain.
And Leclerc underwent a little mishap in the last run when he easily touched the wall in curve 4. At least at first glance, his Ferrari remained unscathed.
Bearman rushes smoking through Dschidda
The first free training in Dschidda was driven in daylight (28 degrees Celsius air and 45 degrees asphalt temperature). And even if Formula 1 were already on the road, the route was very slippery at the beginning.
“We may get a clearer picture in the second session when the temperatures drop and the conditions are a bit more representative,” says Horner. “McLaren will clearly be the team that needs to be beat. Mercedes could also be quick here. It is still far too early to be able to assess the balance of power.”
This was felt, for example, Oliver Bearman (18./haas) when he braked violently at curve 1, slightly grazed the wall on the outside, but could continue without damage. “I don’t know what happened there,” he wondered on the box radio. There were several incidents. But the first free training ultimately remained accident -free.
In another hairy situation, Sainz did not agree to how he was passed by a slower Ferrari. “Tell the Ferrari that he should not take any people there. This is dangerous,” the Spaniard demanded on the box radio.