After lacking overall pace during Friday’s practice sessions at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton is concerned he could suffer an early exit in today’s qualifying session in Jeddah.
During the opening practice at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton started on medium tyres, completing a few laps to reacquaint themselves with the demanding circuit, clocking times of 1’30”592 and 1’30”674 respectively. They then switched to soft tyres, with which they set their best laps—Leclerc went third fastest with a 1’29”309, while Hamilton finished eighth with a 1’29”815.
In the second one-hour session, both Ferrari drivers began on fresh medium tyres before changing to softs. Hamilton recorded a 1’29”371, placing him 13th, while Leclerc secured fourth with a 1’28”749 on his third attempt.
Late in the session, both SF-25s switched to race simulation mode on their earlier medium tyres. However, the long-run plan was cut short after just two laps due to a red flag caused by Yuki Tsunoda’s crash.
After facing difficulties with overall pace in the first two practice sessions, Hamilton admitted that the opening day of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix was a tough one. He also hinted that making it into Q3 on Saturday could prove to be a challenge for him.
Hamilton described the day as difficult, explaining that he and the team are still working to find the right balance between the front and rear of the car. He noted that he’s currently struggling with consistency throughout the lap. Despite the challenges, he emphasized that there’s work to be done overnight and that the team remains focused on making progress.
Reflecting on his struggles, Hamilton said he’s been having trouble getting the most out of the tyres—an issue that became more apparent when switching to the red-walled softs.
“I think our main issue today was getting the tyres into the right window. It’s not a team problem; we just couldn’t get them working properly,” he explained.
“Usually, Saturdays get worse, but I’m already pretty far back, so there’s not much room to drop. Hopefully, we can make some progress overnight.”
He added that while there were some encouraging moments during the session, the performance dropped off once he switched to the soft compound.
“We’ll make some adjustments overnight and hopefully come back stronger tomorrow. I’m not sure what to expect, but right now, I’m just focused on trying to get into the top 10,” Hamilton said.
His teammate, Charles Leclerc, showed strong pace from the start in Saudi Arabia, finishing in the top three in FP1. In the evening’s one-hour session, he ended up fourth but acknowledged that he left some time on the table after making a mistake during his first flying lap when the tyres were at their best.
“We’re a bit off the pace compared to the cars ahead of us, but if we put everything together tomorrow, Qualifying should be close. We’re all fairly close, with McLaren slightly ahead, but we’ll focus on ourselves and see what we can get out of the car tomorrow,” Leclerc commented.
