F1: Leclerc goes fastest in Saudi Arabia Practice 1
Using soft tires on his #16 Ferrari compared to Max Verstappen’s hard tires on his Red Bull, Charles Leclerc pipped Verstappen by 0.116s to lead practice 1 for the Saudi Arabian GP on the streets of Jeddah.
Most other drivers set their fast time on the red soft Pirellis.
Leclerc turned a lap of 1m30.772s to lead the Dutchman, while Valtteri Bottas was again impressive with a 3rd best time, 0.312s behind in his Alfa Romeo.
Carlos Sainz Jr. was 4th in his #55 Ferrari, 0.367s behind his teammate.
AlphaTauri teammates Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsinoda were 5th and 6th.
Kevin Magnussen never made it out on track and did not set a time due to a hydraulic leak.
Practice 1 Results
| POS | NO | DRIVER | CAR | TIME | GAP | Tire | LAPS |
| 1 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:30.772 | +0.000 | Soft | 16 |
| 2 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull Racing RBPT | 1:30.888 | +0.116s | Hard | 23 |
| 3 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo Ferrari | 1:31.084 | +0.312s | Soft | 21 |
| 4 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1:31.139 | +0.367s | Soft | 13 |
| 5 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | AlphaTauri RBPT | 1:31.317 | +0.545s | Soft | 27 |
| 6 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri RBPT | 1:31.505 | +0.733s | Soft | 25 |
| 7 | 11 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull Racing RBPT | 1:31.563 | +0.791s | Soft | 24 |
| 8 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine Renault | 1:32.026 | +1.254s | Soft | 25 |
| 9 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:32.364 | +1.592s | Soft | 19 |
| 10 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Alpine Renault | 1:32.381 | +1.609s | Soft | 22 |
| 11 | 3 | Daniel Ricciardo | McLaren Mercedes | 1:32.506 | +1.734s | Medium | 23 |
| 12 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin Mercedes | 1:32.582 | +1.810s | Soft | 22 |
| 13 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren Mercedes | 1:32.594 | +1.822s | Soft | 23 |
| 14 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Alfa Romeo Ferrari | 1:32.608 | +1.836s | Soft | 25 |
| 15 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:32.839 | +2.067s | Soft | 18 |
| 16 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Aston Martin Mercedes | 1:33.034 | +2.262s | Soft | 22 |
| 17 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams Mercedes | 1:33.087 | +2.315s | Medium | 24 |
| 18 | 6 | Nicholas Latifi | Williams Mercedes | 1:33.529 | +2.757s | Hard | 25 |
| 19 | 47 | Mick Schumacher | Haas Ferrari | 1:34.429 | +3.657s | Medium | 21 |
| 20 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas Ferrari | No Time | No Time | Medium | 2 |