Max Verstappen tops first practice in Saudi Arabia ahead of Fernando Alonso

Max Verstappen set the pace in the opening F1 practice session for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, 0.186s ahead of Fernando Alonso.

Red Bull continued their dominant start to the year as Verstappen headed the timesheets in FP1.

Like in Bahrain, FP1 - which takes place in the afternoon - is ultimately unrepresentative of the conditions teams will face in qualifying and the race - which are under the floodlights.

However, Verstappen was the driver to beat in first practice with a 1m29.659s his best time.

Alonso put his Aston Martin inside the top two with an impressive time, although based on the first race, it’s unlikely the Spaniard will be able to maintain it come race day.

Sergio Perez completed the top three in the second Red Bull, 0.209s off Verstappen’s top time.

Perez claimed his maiden pole position back in 2022 in Jeddah, while he took the race victory last year ahead of Verstappen.

George Russell was fourth-quickest having led the way during the early stages when drivers hit the track on the hard tyre.

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were fifth and sixth-fastest respectively, leading Lando Norris, who was 0.5s shy of Verstappen.

Lewis Hamilton, Lance Stroll and Alex Albon rounded out the top 10 in the opening 60 minutes of running. 

It wasn't an entirely smooth session for Stroll, who brushed the wall at Turn 22 with his front-left tyre.

Valtteri Bottas was just outside of the top 10 in the lead Sauber, 1.1s off the pace.

Daniel Ricciardo set his best time on the mediums, and didn’t run on the red-marked soft, as he set the 12th fastest time ahead of Esteban Ocon, Logan Sagreant and Oscar Piastri.

It was the same for Yuki Tsunoda, who didn’t run on the softs as he ended up 16th overall.

Pierre Gasly, Zhou Guanyu and the Haas duo of Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen completed the order.