FP1 Results: Gasly Edges Out Norris in Jeddah

Pierre Gasly tops the timesheets in FP1 for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, edging out Lando Norris and highlighting Red Bull's struggles.

Pierre Gasly topped the timesheets in first practice for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, driving for Alpine. He set a lap time of 1:29.239 minutes, edging out McLaren's Lando Norris by just 0.007 seconds. Ferrari's Charles Leclerc was third, 0.070 seconds off the pace.

The session's results may not be entirely indicative of Saturday's qualifying or Sunday's race, as it took place in late afternoon sunshine, while the main events will occur at night. Nonetheless, it provided valuable insight into driver confidence on the challenging Jeddah Corniche circuit, where gradual pace building is crucial.

Pierre Gasly sets the fastest time! 💨

Here's your top three from first practice here in Saudi Arabia ⬇️#F1 #SaudiArabianGP pic.twitter.com/KShTkphLRo

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 18, 2025

The rest of the field saw Alex Albon fifth for Williams and George Russell sixth for Mercedes. Carlos Sainz was seventh for Williams, narrowly ahead of Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton in eighth. Red Bull struggled, with Max Verstappen ninth and teammate Sergio Perez not mentioned but Yuki Tsunoda was tenth, however another source stated Perez was eight, hence there might have been mixup of drivers between seventh and eight positions.

Alpine's Jack Doohan was 16th, trailing teammate Pierre Gasly. Haas's Oliver Bearman had a close call with the wall but continued without damage, finishing 18th.