Verstappen sets the pace in Jeddah as he takes P1 in FP1

Max Verstappen and his RB20 followed on from dominating in Bahrain to set the fastest lap of FP1 at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. 

The Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso split the Red Bulls in P2 with a fantastic lap, and Verstappen's teammate Perez finished in P3.

Teams looking to catch Red Bull

At the opening Grand Prix of the season in Bahrain, Max Verstappen took victory by 22 seconds, and his teammate Sergio Perez came behind him and secured a dominant one-two for Red Bull, highlighting their credentials for another dominant season.

Coming to the Jeddah Cornice Circuit, the rest of the grid are looking to improve their performance from last weekend, starting with the opening free practice session.

Busy start to FP1

The race weekend has moved backwards a day to not clash with the holy month of Ramadan, meaning FP1 and FP2 are both happening on Thursday, and it was a busy start to FP1, as all cars were on track within the first 5 minutes in very warm and windy conditions.

As all teams were looking to collect data and close the gap to the Red Bulls in the first practice session, the lap times continued to quicken in the opening half an hour of the session. 

Several teams looked to show improved pace from Bahrain as they bolted on the hard and medium tyres. Mercedes' George Russell set the early pace behind Perez and Verstappen, with Charles Leclerc right behind those three, all on the white-walled hard tyres.

Soft tyre running in the second part of the session

The second half of FP1 led to teams and drivers testing out the soft tyres, giving a representation of who has the greater pace around the street circuit of Jeddah.

McLaren's Lando Norris opened the soft tyre account and stuck around at the top of the leaderboard. But it was Russell who again set the early pace on the soft tyres, with Verstappen just three-thousandths of a tenth behind the Brit, showing that the time differences between teams are decreasing after Bahrain. Russell's teammate Lewis Hamilton also showed a bit of pace, but he never troubled the top of the standings.

However, Verstappen was able to take the RB20 back to the top of the standings, finding another gear to go top of the leaderboard, a tenth clear of Fernando Alonso in P2 and two-tenths clear of Perez in P3.

Russell finished in P4 after contesting Verstappen throughout the hour, and the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished in P4 and P5, respectively, not as quick as they would have wanted to.

Norris, Hamilton, Stroll and Albon rounded out the top ten as they all set their fastest laps on the soft tyres.