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Formula 1 Saudi Arabian GP

F1 Saudi Arabian GP Live Commentary and Updates - FP1 & FP2

Thursday's action from the second round of the 2024 Formula 1 season.

Kerbs detail

Max Verstappen dominated the F1 season opener in Bahrain last week in a Red Bull 1-2, but can the world champions follow it up at a very different track in Saudi Arabia?

Focus remains on Red Bull for off-track ongoings too, following Jos Verstappen’s calls for team principal Christian Horner to step down.

First practice begins at 1:30pm GMT (4:30pm local time) followed by second practice at 5pm GMT (8pm local time).

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Breaking news
Ahead of FP1, Autosport learned that the female employee at the heart of the Christian Horner investigation has been suspended. This is a story that is unlikely to conclude soon and here is the latest update 
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/red-bull-suspend-female-employee-after-horner-allegation-investigation/10584225/
We have little over 10 minutes before the session gets under way, with the pitlane lights set to go green at 5pm GMT.
Hello once again from Saudi Arabia as we get ready for second practice under the lights.
We'll take a breather there and rejoin you later for the resumption of hostilities in FP2. That will kick off at 5pm GMT. We look forward to seeing you then!
Breaking news
In case you missed any of the action from FP1, you can read the full session report here.
Bottas was the first man to take soft tyres in the session and ended up 11th, ahead of Ricciardo and Ocon. Sargeant was 14th ahead of Piastri, Tsunoda and Gasly, while Zhou, Hulkenberg and Magnussen rounded out the order.
Russell ended up fourth in the times ahead of the two Ferraris, with Leclerc leading Sainz. Norris was seventh ahead of Hamilton and Stroll after the latter's touch with the wall. Albon completed the top 10 for Williams.
Breaking news
Mercedes is one of several teams that has brought an aggressive rear wing layout to Jeddah, our eagle-eyed technical experts have informed us. You can read more on that here.
It's a 0.186s advantage then for Verstappen, with Alonso leaping up the order late in the day to slot in between the two Red Bulls after Verstappen and George Russell had earlier traded times atop the leaderboard. At one stage Russell went from 0.003s behind to the same margin ahead, making us briefly question whether new glasses were required.
Checkered flag
There's the chequered flag to bring the curtain down on a thoroughly entertaining FP1 session. Max Verstappen was quickest from Fernando Alonso and Sergio Perez.
The Turn 11 kerb has taken some beating today, with Piastri the latest to ride over the top of it.
We don't expect to see many track limits notifications pop up this weekend, but Gasly has been issued a black-and-white flag for not following the race director's instructions on that issue.
Sargeant has a bit of a scare behind one of the Ferraris that causes him to go up over a kerb and radio an expletive. "Don't worry about him," the American is calmly told.
As we enter the closing minutes of the session, the two Haas cars are bringing up the rear but neither to our knowledge has used the soft tyre as they continue to log laps on the compounds they will use in race trim.
It's only for P12, but Ricciardo has set a new personal best on the medium to muscle in ahead of Ocon. But bouncing or no, the timesheets are rather more encouraging for Alpine than they were last week in qualifying.
We're seeing more teams switching to trials on the medium, while Verstappen has bolted on a set of hards.
We've just 10 minutes left of FP1, and you have to say it's been pretty enjoyable as practice sessions go with constant chopping and changing of the order. Will there be any more soft runs before we call time on proceedings?
Alonso now shows his hand and takes second with a 1m29.845s, within two seconds of Verstappen.
Sure enough, slow-mo replays show that what looks like a small plastic bag has been caught up in the Ferrari's left-front suspension.
Leclerc says the Jeddah Corniche circuit is "like Mario Kart" and is complaining that "there are plastic bags everywhere". Presumably those are equivalent to the in-game bananas.
Now into third goes Leclerc, who logs a 1m30.030s, but is instantly pushed back as Perez leapfrogs him into second on a 1m29.868s.
Sainz improves to third, on a 1m30.164s, but it's still half a second down on Verstappen. Russell though gets closer with a 1m29.939s on his most recent effort, but remains second.
Verstappen had to have his wits about him there, as he comes up on a slow-moving RB into the Turn 16 right-hander. We've seen those end in tears before.
Stroll has returned to the track on softs and moves up to seventh, just behind Leclerc.
Stopwatch
It held him back little though. Verstappen surges back to the top on a 1m29.659s.
Quote
Meanwhile Perez improves to fifth, moving to within four tenths of the pace. Verstappen meanwhile reports "some weird engine behaviour in Turn 13" that recurred later in the lap when he was off-throttle that caused the car to jump "a lot".
Stopwatch
Now Russell reclaims the top spot from Verstappen on a 1m30.011s, eking ahead by 0.003s. Exciting stuff in FP1.
Leclerc's first effort on the soft is two tenths slower than Sainz and leaves him eighth as Hamilton improves to fourth.
Haas didn't get the memo that this was the time to trial the softs, clearly, as Hulkenberg and Magnussen are alone in using the medium at the moment.
The first effort on softs from Sainz is a 1m30.717, which puts him seven tenths adrift of the new target in fourth.
Russell was even quicker than Verstappen through the middle sector, and ends up a paltry 0.003s shy at the flag as he moves into second spot.
Stopwatch
And here comes Verstappen to reclaim his place at the top of the charts. It's a 1m30.014s, four tenths quicker than Norris's best.
Ocon goes up to ninth with his first go on the hard, but Zhou isn't able to make a similar leap after a big wiggle that forces him to lift in the first sector.
Several more drivers have now taken on the soft, including Verstappen, who is heading off for his outlap.
We've yet to see Stroll return to the track after his wall bang earlier. Hopefully the Aston isn't too seriously damaged.
Alex Albon is another early adopter of the soft tyre and puts it to good effect, churning out the third-fastest time of 1m30.747s in his Williams.
Stopwatch
Sure enough, Norris goes quickest on a 1m30.424s. A fairly big leap up from 14th for the McLaren driver on his soft tyres.
Bottas goes ninth with his first effort on the softs. But Norris has dethroned Piasti as the quickes through sector one. What can he do?

By: Autosport Staff

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