2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix - Free Practice 1 Results & Summary

Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen set the fastest lap of the FP1 session ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The first practice at Jeddah Corniche Circuit took place from 16:30 to 17:30 local time. Both qualifying and the Grand Prix race start at 20:00, so the track conditions weren't totally representative.

Even though F1 cars this year are faster than last year, the best lap of the Free Practice session 1 from 2023 wasn't improved. Last year, it was 1:29.617; this year, it was 1:29.659. Both times were set by Max Verstappen.

Almost all drivers started the session on either hard or medium tires and then, after the first 30 minutes of running, switched to the soft compound to go for a few qualifying simulation runs.

Jeddah is the fastest street circuit in the calendar. The whole track is closely surrounded by walls, so drivers have almost no margin for mistakes.

Lance Stroll was reminded of that very quickly as he clipped the left side of his Aston Martin on entry into turn 22 just after 15 minutes of running. He said on the team radio: "Oop, I had a touch with the wall."

Lando Norris was one of the first drivers to put on the soft-compound tires, on which he set the fastest lap 30 minutes into the session. George Russell improved it shortly after.

However, the triple World Champion snatched the fastest lap of the session despite his complaints about the dominant RB20's stability.

As Helmut Marko said, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix will be crucial in determining just how big of an advantage Red Bull has compared to other teams.

Quite a few drivers hit plastic bags that flew on the track during the session. Charles Leclerc, who hit two of them in one flying lap, said on the team radio: "The track is like Mario Kart, there is plastic bags everywhere."