Formula 1 have made their debut’s in Saudi Arabia for the fastest ever street circuit in the region of Jeddah. Yeah, it is fast. On Friday, it was Mercedes and Hamilton who ended the day happiest after their driver topped both practice sessions, but by narrow margins. Valtteri Bottas made it a Mercedes 1-2 in the afternoon with Pierre Gasly within a tenth in third in a day that saw little stoppages until the end.
Most teams seemed to come across similar struggles when it came to turning the soft tyres on, as the harder compounds proved to be the most stable.
Hamilton has started a key weekend for him how he would have wished, managing to place his name at the top of the timings in both sessions, marginally ahead of Max Verstappen in the morning before outdoing his teammate, Bottas, in the afternoon session by just 0.061s. Like most, both Mercedes cars seemed more suited to the medium tyres rather then the softs, with their fastest times being set on the yellow coloured compound.
Despite his 2021 form, Gasly managed to surprise many by placing his name in third, just 0.081s away from the leading time which is a very good omen for the AlphaTauri team. Yuki Tsunoda also seemed comfortable around the new circuit as he would finish the day in eighth.
Verstappen became the fastest out of the blocks initially on Friday as he quickly got to grips with the new Jeddah circuit. It did not take him long to push the limits of the new, fast circuit. After narrowly missing out on the fastest time in the morning, Verstappen looked more suited to the hard tyres as he struggled to wake up his soft tyres despite setting his fastest time on them. The Dutchman was left 0.195s behind his rival. Another thing which does not help the Red Bull team is the fact that Sergio Perez ended the day 0.750s off the pace in ninth.
Alpine came into this weekend with confidence, and that seemed to show on the track as their cars ended Friday in fifth and sixth. Fernando Alonso would lead the team, managing to get within half a second of the fastest time. Esteban Ocon would trail his teammate by just over a tenth, but importantly edged ahead of the chasing pack.
Carlos Sainz led for the Ferrari team in seventh, just 0.04s away from Ocon’s time. However, it would become a tough end of the day for Ferrari as Charles Leclerc would completely total his car in the final few minutes of the day. In the fast turn 22 and 23 section, Leclerc’s rear end decided to let go of the grip, sending the driver into a mighty whack against the wall, causing a major overnight rebuild. Leclerc would end the day in tenth.
Again, McLaren seemed to be on the back foot against their rivals but believe to have some pace in hand. Both Daniel Ricciardo and Lando Norris would nearly match each other as the red flag dropped. Ricciardo would find himself 0.950s adrift of the fastest time, ahead of Norris in 12th by 0.036s.
A rhythm of team formations come into play as the Alfa Romeo duo fulfilled the 13th and 14th place with Antonio Giovinazzi leading Kimi Raikkonen by just under two tenths of a second. Following them was the Aston Martin team of Lance Stroll and Sebastian Vettel. Stroll would find himself gapping his teammate by just 0.06s. Both drivers seemed to struggle with the balance of their car, and only just managed to keep ahead of a Williams.
Russell would stake his place in 17th, just 0.004s away from Vettel’s time. The British’s driver’s day would become slightly trickier after a BBW – Brake By Wire – failure, but that quickly resolved itself. Mick Schumacher would put himself in the middle of a Williams sandwich with 18th, as Nicholas Latifi found himself a huge four tenths behind a Haas after a tough opening day for the Canadian. Nikita Mazepin would fill his usual place of last, a full second adrift from his Haas teammate.
The Motorsport Formula 