Leclerc leads Verstappen in first free practice at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc continued his winning ways as he topped the first practice ahead of Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas.

Leclerc was faster than Verstappen by 0.116 seconds. Leclerc set the fastest lap of 1m30.772s on the soft compound tyres in the dying minutes of the session. Verstappen set his fastest time on the hard compound tyres, an ominous sign for the competition.

The first free practice session of the second race of the 2022 FIA Formula 1 World Championship took place at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Formula 1 returned to this track for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in less than four months. This race debuted on the Formula 1 calendar as the penultimate race of last season.

The track has 27 corners and is a superfast flowing track. It is a temporary street circuit with the barriers close to the track. The drivers negotiated the first session without any major incidents.

The sixty-minute long first free practice session started at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit with air temperatures at 22 degrees C and track temperatures at 27 degrees C. The humidity was very high as the session started at the local time of 5:00pm.

The Pirelli tyre choice at this race is the white-striped hard compound tyres (C2), yellow-striped medium compound tyres (C3), and red-striped soft compound tyres (C4), the middle range of compounds in the Pirelli tyre range.

All the drivers except the Scuderia Ferrari drivers were out on the track immediately. Kevin Magnussen did not set a timed lap as he had to sit out the session due to hydraulic issues.

Verstappen on the hard compound tyres went to the top of the time charts with a lap time of 1m34.167s. Esteban Ocon slotted into second position behind him.

Even as Verstappen extended his lead at the top, Hamilton was in second place on the soft compound tyres. Sergio Pérez went to second position behind Verstappen.

A loose marker board at Turn 1 brought out the red flags briefly. After the session resumed with fourty minutes to go, the Ferrari drivers finally came out on the track.

The Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team drivers were trying different rear-wings to reduce drag on this fast circuit. Leclerc soon jumped to second position behind Verstappen only to be displace by Pierre Gasly.

With fifteen minutes to go, the drivers started the simulations on the soft compound tyres. Leclerc set the fastest lap in the dying minutes of the session. Verstappen stayed in second position even as Bottas jumped into third position.

Sainz and Gasly were in fourth and fifth positions.Tsunoda was in sixth position ahead of Pérez. Ocon and Fernando Alonso were in eight and tenth positions for the Alpine F1 team.

Hamilton was in ninth position as Mercedes tried to find solutions to their problems. The second free practice session will take place at the same time as the qualification session and race.