#SaudiArabianGP FP1: @LewisHamilton tops time-sheets ahead of @Max33Verstappen. #F1

Lewis Hamilton topped the time-sheets in the first ever FP1 session at the Saudi Arabian GP ahead of title-rival Max Verstappen who was second for Red Bull and Mercedes team-mate Valtteri Bottas who rounded out the top three.

Following Porsche Supercup and FIA Formula 2 practice sessions earlier on, Formula One were the third series to hit the all-new high-speed Jeddah Corniche Circuit, which was compared to Baku, Surfers Paradise and Valencia.

World Driver’s Championship leader Verstappen set the early pace for Red Bull, completing his initial stint on the C2 white side-walled harder compound.

The Dutchman was nearly two seconds clear of the field at times as he quickly familiarised himself around the circuit, eventually found his best effort on his hard tyres with a 1:30.014.

Championship-rival Hamilton was not as quick to get up to speed despite using the C4 red-marked softer rubber, wounding up six-tenths adrift of Verstappen’s benchmark during the initial stint with his Mercedes team-mate Bottas third, also on softs.

As the track continued to evolve and rubber-in, the field switched over to the softs for the second half-hour, lap-times continued to tumble with Hamilton and Bottas jumping Verstappen in the order.

Bottas moved five-thousandths clear of Verstappen on his second flyer on the softer tyres, only for Hamilton to then find another two-tenths, posting an effort of 1:29.786 with 15 minutes left on the clock.

It was enough for the Briton to hold P1 until the end of the session, narrowly keeping in-front of title-rival Verstappen, who improved in the closing stages to finish second in the classification.

Verstappen put in a quick hot-lap on the softs to cross the line in the final minute of Free Practice 1, ending up a narrow 0.056 off of Hamilton’s benchmark.

Verstappen had a late issue with Alpine F1 Team’s Esteban Ocon as the Frenchman attempted to allow him through in the first corner, only for both cars to run wide and just avoid each other. It was the only near-miss of opening practice, though it ran without any major disruption, only a few yellow flags.

Bottas completed the top three in the second Silver Arrow, enjoying his inital running of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, saying to his race engineer “**** this track is cool”.

AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly came fourth on the time-sheets with Alfa Romeo Racing’s Antonio Giovinazzi taking a surprise fifth place.

The Ferrari’s followed with Carlos Sainz the lead SF21 in-front of Charles Leclerc in sixth and seventh places respectively as the former found a solid amount of time on the softs, whilst McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo in eighth with a couple of improvements during his second stint on the red-branded tyre.

Alpine F1 Team’s Fernando Alonso ended opening practice in ninth place after his improvement on the harder rubber in the second half of FP1 and ahead of Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel who completed the top ten.

The other Honda-powered RB16B Red Bull entry of Sergio Perez was 11th on the classification ahead of Alpine’s Ocon who took 12th and McLaren’s Lando Norris who ended the session 13th.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll finished FP1 in 14th and in-front of AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda who was 15th and Alfa Romeo’s Kimi Raikkonen in 16th.

Williams Racing’s George Russell and Nicholas Latifi ended opening practice in 17th and 19th respectively whilst Haas F1 Team’s Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin were 18th and at the rear.

You can see the Formula 1 STC Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2021 Free Practice 1 Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2021/races/1106/saudi-arabia/practice-1.html

#Formula1 STC #SaudiArabianGP 2021 Preview – #F1 #SaudiArabiaGP