Formula 1: Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Free Practice One and Two

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Pierre Gasly topped Free Practice One, and Lando Norris topped the timesheet for Free Practice Two.

Due to a fuel leak, Gabriel Bortoleto didn't participate in Free Practice Two. Yuki Tsunoda ended Free Practice Two with a trip into the barrier after clipping the wall on the inside of the final corner.

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Free Practice One

Top Ten Results
1) Pierre Gasly     1:29.239
2) Lando Norris     +0.007
3) Charles Leclerc +0.070
4) Oscar Piastri     +0.102
5) Alex Albon         +0.367
6) George Russell +0.379
7) Carlos Sainz      +0.540
8) Lewis Hamilton  +0.576
9) Max Verstappen +0.579
​10) Yuki Tsunoda    +0.582

Pierre Gasly topped the timesheets in the first practice session of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, followed by Lando Norris and Charles Leclerc.

The first free practice session took place at 16:30 local time, with hot and humid conditions. The majority of the drivers took to the track at the start of the session, utilising the medium tyres for the first part of the hour-long session.

The session had some very close encounters with the walls by Gasly and Hamilton. Piastri was also experiencing problems with his drink leaking into his helmet.

George Russell topped the timesheet for the first few runs with a lap time of 1m 29.674, just 0.306s in front of Lando Norris.

In the soft tyre running, Norris went the fastest with a lap time of 1m 29.246s, in front of Russell three-tenths behind and Piastri four-tenths behind him.

Gasly jumped to the top of the timesheet seven-thousandths of a second quicker than Norris. Gasly remained unbeaten for the rest of the session. 

Liam Lawson was investigated after the session for allegedly entering the painted area between the pitlane and the track.

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Free Practice Two

Top Ten Results
1) Lando Norris     1:28.267
2) Oscar Piastri       +0.163
3) Max Verstappen  +0.280
4) Charles Leclerc   +0.482
5) Carlos Sainz        +0.675
6) Yuki Tsunoda       +0.696
7) George Russell   +0.706
8) Pierre Gasly        +0.839
9) Nico Hulkenberg +0.926
10) Alex Albon         +0.953

Lando Norris topped the timesheet during the second practice session, which took place under the floodlights at 20:00 local time. The session was cooler and a good representative of the evening conditions.

Norris topped the timesheets in the session's opening stages, setting a lap time of 1m 29.272s, just short of Gasly's fastest time from FP1. Piastri wasn't far behind him, in fact just 0.001s on the medium tyres.

Traffic was an issue in FP2, with Norris held up by Verstappen and Alex Albon impeded by Lewis Hamilton, an incident that was passed to the stewards.

As the session approached the 20-minute mark, Leclerc moved into the top spot before the drivers switched to the soft tyre compound. Carlos Sainz, Verstappen and Piastri all had a turn at the top spot before Norris set a benchmark of 1m 28.340s but then improved with a 1m 28.267s.

Piastri finished in second, with Verstappen in third, and Leclerc and Sainz rounded out the top five.

Tsunoda finished sixth in his Red Bull but clipped the wall on the inside at the final turn, breaking his suspension, which sent him into the barrier on the exit. The session finished with one minute left after the red flag and drivers scrambled to take practice starts.

Gabriel Bortoleto suffered a fuel leak on his Kick Sauber and could not participate in the session.

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Written by Anny Wooldridge