Pierre Gasly went quickest in the first practice session for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with the Alpine driver outpacing McLaren’s Lando Norris by less than a hundredth of a second, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc third. 

At the top of the hour, Haas’ Esteban Ocon was first out on track in hot and humid conditions, but it was Mercedes’ George Russell who set the early benchmark with a lap 

1:29.674 that left him 0.306s ahead of Norris, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen followed in third. Williams’ Carlos Sainz then bolted on a set of Soft tyres and jumped to second ahead of Norris. 

The championship-leading McLaren driver was back out on track on the red-walled Pirelli tyres, however, and he quickly rocketed back to the top of the timesheet with a time of 1:29.246s , three-tenths ahead of Russell and four-tenths clear of team-mate Piastri.

Gasly, who notched his team’s first points of 2025 last weekend in Bahrain, then arrived with his table-topping lap of 1:29.239 that pushed him seven-thousandths of a second ahead of from Norris. 

Leclerc sealed third place on the timesheet with a lap of 1:29.309 that left him 0.070 off Gasly, while fourth place went to Piastri who earlier in the session suffered a malfunctioning drinks system. 

After Sainz’s soft tyre run briefly put him into the top two it was team-mate Alex Albon who ended up the highest placed of the two Williams drivers, with the Thai racer taking P5, 0.367 of Gasly’s P1 mark. 

George Russell was sixth for Mercedes, ahead of Sainz, while Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton was eighth and half a second adrift of team-mate Leclerc. 

Max Verstappen was ninth 0.579 off the pace and tenth place went to his Red Bull team-mate  Yuki Tsunoda who ended the session just three thousandths of a second off the four-time champion.

2025 FIA Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – Free Practice 1 
1 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:29.239 25 249.065
2 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:29.246 0.007 25 249.046
3 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:29.309 0.070 28 248.870
4 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:29.341 0.102 25 248.781
5 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:29.606 0.367 23 248.045
6 George Russell Mercedes 1:29.618 0.379 21 248.012
7 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:29.779 0.540 26 247.567
8 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:29.815 0.576 27 247.468
9 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:29.818 0.579 26 247.460
10 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:29.821 0.582 26 247.452
11 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:29.907 0.668 19 247.215
12 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:29.916 0.677 25 247.190
13 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:29.934 0.695 24 247.141
14 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:29.976 0.737 24 247.025
15 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:30.011 0.772 15 246.929
16 Jack Doohan Alpine/Renault 1:30.183 0.944 25 246.458
17 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:30.583 1.344 23 245.370
18 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:30.595 1.356 21 245.338
19 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:31.029 1.790 21 244.168
20 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:31.038 1.799 23 244.144