Max Verstappen has set the fastest time during the first free practice session at the Jeddah circuit. Based on the first practice session of the weekend, Verstappen once again looks like the likely candidate for victory on Sunday. Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin were nowhere near the pace of the RB19.

Sergio Pérez and Verstappen once again seized the fastest two times of the first free practice session. Among the first two drivers, it was again the Aston Martins who took spots three and four. Fernando Alonso was faster by about seven tenths than Lance Stroll who was just under a second away from Verstappen. Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in the Mercedes find themselves in fifth and sixth places. Ferrari slightly disappointed with Carlos Sainz in seventh place and Charles Leclerc in 11th.

Nyck de Vries set the 13th time. Yuki Tsunoda bested him with his tenth spot. There was about four tenths between the two teammates. Halfway through the session, the Alpha Tauri's were not doing very well, but with the soft tyres under them, rectifying the then eighteenth spot and last place, managed quite nicely.

Complete results first free practice Grand Prix of Saudi Arabia 2023

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"> FP1 CLASSIFICATION <br><br>Max Verstappen leads the way in Saudi <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/SaudiArabianGP?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#SaudiArabianGP</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/F1?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#F1</a> <a href="https://t.co/n7pBrBRhAp">pic.twitter.com/n7pBrBRhAp</a></p>&mdash; Formula 1 (@F1) <a href="https://twitter.com/F1/status/1636739845081923586?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 17, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>