Formula 1: Norris sets a sign: Fastest round of the day

Lando Norris (25) set a sign with the fastest round of the day on the high speed course in Dschidda. The British Formula 1 leader, which was recently doubtful in Bahrain, referred his Australian McLaren teammate Oscar Piatri (24) to second place during training on Friday in the faster second unit. The racing winner from last Sunday and World Cup runners were missing 0.163 seconds to the best time of Norris.

Verstappen directly behind the McLaren duo

Surprisingly, after the impressions of the first free training in the hotter afternoon, Max Verstappen made it to third place in the Red Bull. “We carried out massive changes,” said Red Bull’s motorsport consultant Helmut Marko at the broadcaster Sky. The cars are now good on a quick round. With the so -called Longruns, however, far too slow.

Nevertheless, good for Verstappen: The qualification on this Saturday and the race on Sunday will start like the second training session at 8:00 p.m. local time (7 p.m. CESZ/Sky).

Team colleague Yuki Tsunoda became training sixth. The Japanese, who replaced Liam Lawson at Red Bull after the first two season races, made a red phase shortly before the end. Tsunoda first touched the route limitation, the wheel suspension broke and he crashed into the route on the other side with the car on the other side, but nothing happened to him. “I touched the wall inside and then had no control,” said Tsunoda.

Hülkenberg in the top ten

Charles Leclerc came up in Ferrari on training rank. Teammate and record world champion Lewis Hamilton, who had won the premiere in Saudi Arabia in Mercedes in 2021, did not make it significantly below the top ten and was slower than Norris for a second.

The only German driver, Nico Hülkenberg, ran into the careless ninth place in the clean. However, the training times are always to be assessed with caution, since the teams and drivers can complete different programs.

Before the fifth Grand Prix this year, Norris leads in the overall ranking with a three -point lead over Piatri. Third is Verstappen, the four -time world champion has a gap of eight points on Norris.