Lando Norris said he feels “on the right track” for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after finishing Friday practice with the fastest time.
He was 0.163 seconds ahead of his McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri, who won the race in Bahrain last week. The practice day was cut short after Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda crashed. The Japanese driver hit the inside wall at the final corner and then crashed into the outer wall.
McLaren looked strong again, with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen third-fastest on single-lap speed, 0.280 seconds behind Norris.
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc came in fourth, followed by Williams’ Carlos Sainz, Tsunoda, and Mercedes’ George Russell.
Lando Norris admitted he hasn’t felt completely comfortable with McLaren’s new car this season, even though he led the championship by three points ahead of Piastri going into the fifth race.
He focused on building his confidence during practice at the fast and narrow Jeddah street circuit.
Norris said: “It was a pretty good first day. It always feels a bit crazy here – it’s very fast, the walls are close, and there are lots of near misses. Today was more about working on my driving and getting more confident than adjusting the car. It was a positive start and I learned what I needed to. We feel good, but the other teams aren’t far behind. I was hoping we’d be a bit quicker. The car is strong, but I’m still not fully comfortable with it.”
Piastri added: “The car feels fast and I’m feeling good. There are just a few corners where I need to do better tomorrow.”
Max Verstappen, who was third fastest overall, seemed slower than Ferrari and Mercedes during longer runs in both practice sessions. The Red Bull driver said: “We tried a few different setups to find a new direction and we learned a lot, but I’m still not happy with how the car feels. The one-lap pace was okay, but the long runs were really tough.”
Although Charles Leclerc was almost half a second slower than Norris, he didn’t get a clean lap on the soft tyres. He and George Russell looked to be the main competition for McLaren over a full race run. In fact, McLaren seemed to have a bigger edge than in any other race so far.
Leclerc said: “It was a tough day. This track is very challenging, and you need a lot of confidence to do well here. We made a lot of changes to the car, and I learned a lot, which is a good sign. I think once we get everything right, we can unlock more speed. McLaren looks very strong right now, but anything can happen if we get everything perfect.”
Lewis Hamilton admitted he had a tough day on the track. The seven-time world champion finished 13th in the second session, 0.622 seconds slower than Charles Leclerc, and placed 8th in the first session, 0.506 seconds behind.
“It wasn’t the best day,” Hamilton said. “We struggled to get the tyres working properly.
“Usually, things get worse for me on Saturdays, but there’s not much room to drop from where I am now.
“I need to improve the car. Some parts felt okay during the session, but when we switched to the soft tyres, it didn’t work out. We’ll make some changes tonight and hope to do better tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, Yuki Tsunoda crashed during the race simulation runs in the second session. His car hit the inside wall, breaking the left-front track-rod, and then slammed into the outer wall, damaging the front right.
“I turned too much and clipped the inside wall, which caused the damage,” Tsunoda explained.
