Roundup of practice for 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as Fernando Alonso topped the first day of running in Jeddah.
Alonso was Max Verstappen’s closest challenger in FP1 but managed to turn the tables in FP2 as he finished with the fastest time of the day ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell.
Now, here is a roundup of FP1 and FP2 for the 2024 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
FP1
Stake’s Valtteri Bottas was first out on track in an unrepresentative FP1 and set a benchmark 1m 33.989 which was quickly bettered by several drivers as Sergio Perez went fastest with 1m 32.072 on the hard tyre in the seventh minute.
Norris three minutes later went fastest on the medium tyre with 1m 31.804 but was quickly surpassed by Fernando Alonso who went 0.843 seconds quicker, only for Mercedes’ George Russell to go top with 1m 30.806 just 15 minutes into the session on the hard tyres.
Russell then found 0.252s on his next flier to go even quicker and headed Perez plus Verstappen once opening stints were completed.
Norris meanwhile was the first driver to switch to the soft tyre and posted 1m 30.424 to go quickest in the 28th minute which led to a flurry of soft tyre runs in which Russell headed Verstappen by 0.003s after the 35th minute with a 1m 30.011 lap.
Verstappen eventually finished quickest after he posted 1m 29.659 in the 40th minute whilst Alonso left his fastest lap until the 50th minute as he slotted into second ahead of Perez and Russell.
Racing Bull’s (RB) Daniel Ricciardo plus Yuki Tsunoda and Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg plus Kevin Magnussen were the only drivers to not set their quickest lap times on the soft tyre.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 29.659 |
| 2 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.186 |
| 3 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.209 |
| 4 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.280 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.371 |
| 6 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.505 |
| 7 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.572 |
| 8 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.577 |
| 9 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.921 |
| 10 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.088 |
| 11 | Esteban Ocon | Stake | + 1.124 |
| 12 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | + 1.258 |
| 13 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.286 |
| 14 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 1.307 |
| 15 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 1.318 |
| 16 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | + 1.377 |
| 17 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.387 |
| 18 | Guanyu Zhou | Stake | + 1.472 |
| 19 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 1.752 |
| 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.918 |
FP2
Issues with loose drain covers were discovered during the gap between F2 Qualifying and FP2 which led to a ten-minute delay, whilst stewards inspected every drain cover for safety reasons.
Piastri was first out on track and set the benchmark time of 1m 32.956 which quickly got beaten by several drivers as Perez soon headed Verstappen and Alonso at the end of the first fliers, with the Mexican having posted 1m 30.427 to set the pace in the fifth minute by 0.020s from his teammate.
Alonso lowered the fastest lap to 1m 29.846 in the ninth minute then found 0.286s just four minutes later to improve his fastest lap, but Verstappen one further minute later produced 1m 29.543 to go top at the end of the opening stint.
Bottas was the first driver to attempt a soft-tyre qualifying simulation and went seventh-fastest whilst up front, Alonso in the 26th minute posted 1m 28.827 which proved enough to top the session from Russell and Verstappen.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 1m 28.827 |
| 2 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.230 |
| 3 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.331 |
| 4 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.353 |
| 5 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.473 |
| 6 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.509 |
| 7 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.628 |
| 8 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.677 |
| 9 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.701 |
| 10 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.767 |
| 11 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | + 0.839 |
| 12 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.931 |
| 13 | Guanyu Zhou | Stake | + 0.950 |
| 14 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.962 |
| 15 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.074 |
| 16 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 1.107 |
| 17 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.158 |
| 18 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 1.250 |
| 19 | Daniel Ricciardo | RB | + 1.261 |
| 20 | Valtteri Bottas | Stake | + 1.326 |