F1: Pierre Gasly put Alpine up in Saudi Arabia

The Frenchman was the fastest in the first batch of training of the fifth date of the World Cup with his A525. Lando Norris was second and Charles Leclerc, third.

Surprise: Alpine stayed with the best time of the first free practice of the Grandbia de Saudi Grand Prix, fifth date of the 76th season of Formula 1. The French Pierre Gasly accelerated with his A525 and marked 1M29S239 to keep the best of the first runway in the urban of Jeddah.

Estone’s team had lived a sensitive improvement in Baréin, during the previous appointment, which was reflected in the seventh place of Gasly and the first points. And this time it was up in training. Of course, the result must be taken with tweezers, because it was hardly the first essay, but nothing will take away from the French happiness of having remained up in a batch.

It is known that the A525 has a very well developed chassis by David Sanchez, an engineer with a past in Ferrari, but its Achilles heel is the Renault engine, The weakest of the four on the F1 grill. In the previous start of the Saudi activity, Gasly warned that the lack of power would be a strong ballast in a high speed route with that of Jeddah. That’s why, From Alpine they bet on a risky play: send the team’s most experienced pilot with very little aerodynamic load and with a new power unit. That combination, added to the fact that they would have given him a classification motor map, allowed him to keep his best. Jack Doohan, with another set -up and without a new engine, was 16º, 944 thousandths of Gasly.

We will have to see if Alpine risks to leave the car downloaded for the rest of the weekend, because in the race it can be complicated when carrying the car loaded with fuel and, therefore, heavy. Meanwhile, he stayed with the best, with just seven thousandths of advantage over Lando Norris and 70 over Charles Leclerc, who completed the first three places.

Max Verstappen was far, in the ninth place, 579 thousandths of the French And again it was seen with some problem in the brakes, inconvenient that appeared in BARÉIN. Of course, in Jeddah it can be lethal with the walls so close.

Thus the surprise first batch of rehearsals passed, although the reality is that it is very early on the weekend. There is still the second session, the most important, because it will take place at the same time as the race. And, of course, the classification of this Saturday.

Saudi Arabia First Training Results