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Max Verstappen was top of the timesheets in FP1 at a windy Jeddah. Fernando Alonso, as he often did last year, splits the two Red Bulls in P2, with Sergio Perez 0.2 off his teammate in third.
George Russell continued to prove himself as the stronger of the two Mercedes drivers this weekend when he finished fourth, four places above Hamilton in eighth.
The two Ferraris who both experienced their own struggles on track shared fifth and sixth with Charles Leclerc the quickest of the two.
Lance Stroll finished ninth, although decided to test the strength of his tyres when he cut into the super fast turn 22, hitting the inside wall with his left tyre. This caused the Canadian to go off track and a trip to the garage was required to see what damage was left on his front wing.
Alex Albon completed the top 10 positions here in Jeddah. His teammate Sargeant experienced many traffic issues, not helping his situation in 14th.
Even though an F1 car costs millions of pounds to make and takes thousands of people to design, a gust of wind can cause many issues. Sainz’ race engineer reported “20kph headwind on main straight” and it was the Spaniard who first found his car squabbling with it into the final corner.
Hamilton and Esteban Ocon both reported issues with bouncing during their runs.
The drivers rears (car rear) was a common issue this first practice session, with many of them experiencing the back of the cars deciding to go their own way. Zhou Guanyu found himself saving his bright green Stake car from spinning out at high speeds at turn 5. Even the perfect Red Bull needed calming down when Verstappen called his car “loose” on the radio.
Leclerc likened the Jeddah street circuit to a Mario Kart track due to all the plastic bags littered around. One of them ended up caught in his left tyre, although unlike a shell in Mario Kart, he didn’t spin out.
It is an interesting and relevant comparison however due to the reveal of Saudi Arabias plan for their Qiddiya track. Many F1 fans have compared it to the infamous rainbow road, with turn 1 being elevated 20 stories. Drivers have begun to share ‘their’ views on the track across social media.
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