Defending world champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull set the pace in the opening practice session for the 2024 FIA Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, beating Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso by just under two tenths of a second, with Sergio Pérez third in the other Red Bull car.
In the opening part of the session it was George Russell that led the way as drivers ran through tyre evaluation programmes on the high-speed Jeddah Corniche circuit. The Mercedes driver chipped away at his times as he worked his way towards a comfort zone, eventually working his way down to a time of 1:30.554 on Medium tyres.
In the opening part of the session it was George Russell that led the way as drivers ran through tyre evaluation programmes on the high-speed Jeddah Corniche circuit. The Mercedes driver chipped away at his times as he worked his way towards a comfort zone, eventually working his way down to a time of 1:30.554 on Medium tyres.
McLaren’s Lando Norris this bolted on a set of Soft tyres and the Briton went marginally ahead of the Mercedes with a time of 1:30.424s.
Verstappen, who had run Hard tyres earlier in the session, then also moved to C4s and he went well clear of Norris with a lap of 1:30.014.
