#F1 #SaudiArabianGP FP1: @PierreGASLY pips @LandoNorris by narrow 0.007s.
Pierre Gasly, #10, BWT Alpine F1 Team-Renault, A525, Free Practice 1, Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2025, Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. Image credit to Steven Tee/LAT Images. Gasly Saudi Arabian GP FP1, Saudi Arabian GP FP1, F1 Jeddah GP FP1.
Gasly Saudi Arabian GP FP1 – Alpine’s Pierre Gasly ended the opening FP1 session at the Saudi Arabian quickest ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris who was second whilst Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc completed the top ten.
Gasly set the session-topping benchmark of a 1:29.239 on the C5 red side-walled softer compounds and was a slim 0.007 seconds clear of Norris as Leclerc was a further 0.070 seconds off in third.
Championship leader Norris was the first to lead the pack out on circuit with the C4 mediums as the majority of drivers came out with the yellow-branded rubber.
The Briton was the first to set the benchmark of a 1:31.887 as Haas’s Oliver Beaman slotted in second with a 1:32.946 until Red Bull’s Max Verstappen shot to the top setting a 1:31.764.
Piastri ten moved to the top on a 1:31.548 to go 0.216 seconds quicker than Verstappen.
Mercedes’ George Russell relegated Norris to fourth with his effort by 0.027 seconds.
Norris them improved with a 1:30.454 to pip his team-mate Piastri at the top by 1.094 seconds.
Verstappen was next to move up to second and was 0.148 seconds adrift of Norris’s benchmark.
Piastri lost a bit of time in sector two but jumped up to second in the order behind team-mate Norris by 0.113 seconds.
Russell followed up and shot to the head of the times with a 1:30.425 on the medium rubber pipping Norris by 0.029 seconds.
Norris then improved to a 1.29.980 to go fastest by 0.445 seconds over Russell.
Piastri then slotted to second and was 0.354 seconds off his McLaren team-mate.
Russell then posted a personal best in sector one followed by two purples to reclaim P1 with a 1:29.674 and was 0.306 seconds quicker than Norris.
The other Mercedes of Andrea Kimi Antonelli moved up to seventh on his flyer on the mediums and was 0.893 seconds off leading team-mate Russell at this stage of proceedings.
Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda then split both Verstappen and Piastri to go up to fourth with his 1:30.239 effort.
With 35 minutes left on the clock, Williams’ Carlos Sainz was the first to bolt on a set of the C5 red-marked softs.
Sainz with two personal bests and a purple in the final sector to jump from seventh to second on a 1:29.919 and was 0.245 seconds off Russell’s leading effort.
Both McLaren’s then emerged on the C5’s as Piastri jumped to second and was 0.034 seconds off Russell.
Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg then slotted to third on his soft run whilst Norris was next and moved to P1 with a 1:29.246 and was 0.428 seconds clear of Russell’s medium effort.
Verstappen then jumped to fourth to wound up 0.572 seconds adrift of Norris.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc then shuffled Verstappen to fifth in the order with his effort as Russell could only improve on his soft tyre flying lap to be 0.372 seconds off Norris’s benchmark.
Tsunoda then moved up to sixth behind Red Bull team-mate Verstappen.
Piastri with a purple final sector moved back into second to go 0.187 seconds off team-mate Norris’s session-topping effort.
Sainz was next to jump former team-mate Leclerc to move up into fourth whilst Alpine’s Pierre Gasly then went fastest with a 1:29.239 to be 0.007 seconds quicker than Norris.
Leclerc with two personal bests and a purple middle sector jumped to third to be only 0.070 seconds off Gasly’s benchmark.
Williams’ Alexander Albon on his second flyer on the softs jumped up to P5 in the classification and was 0.367 seconds adrift.
Hamilton with three personal bests on the softs could only go up to eighth and 0.576 seconds off Gasly’s session-topping benchmark.
All drivers then began to focus on the long race run data gathering for the final 15 minutes whilst Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar and Liam Lawson left tyre soft tyre runs late.
Lawson then moved up into 12th whilst his team-mate Hadjar was unable to improve and was at the rear of the time-sheets.
Hadjar after aborting his initial flyer ended up 15th in the classification.
Gasly ended the session on top with Norris second and Leclerc completing the top three.
Piastri followed in fourth and ahead of Albon who took fifth and Russell who ended opening practice sixth.
The other Williams FW47 entry of Sainz was seventh as Hamilton and Verstappen came in eighth and ninth respectively.
Tsunoda completed the top ten in the second Red Bull RB21 racer.
A lot of drivers suffered scary moments with the wall during the session including Leclerc, Piastri and Bearman.
You can see the full Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2025 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results/2025/races/1258/saudi-arabia/practice/1
