After the Rookie Free Practice, it’s time for Free Practice 1 in Jeddah. The racetrack under the lights provided a clam forty-minute session, giving the drivers an opportunity to get comfortable and build up their confidence around the street circuit.

Pit Boost was a big topic of this session, creating new opportunities for race strategies. Debuting this weekend, it brings a new excitement to the series. Hand in hand with Pit Boost goes Attack mode, which helped drivers to drop the lap times down to 1:15:849 set by the most recent race winner, Oliver Rowland. Alongside with Norman Nato occupying P2, with a time of 1:15:980, the two teammates driving for Nissan were the only ones to break into the 1:15 time window. The top three was closed by Edoardo Mortara and Mahinda Racing, following a successful Rookie Free practise with Kush Miani.

On the other hand, the two Jaguar drivers faced some issues with their cars. With Mitch Evans complaining about car balance and Nick Cassidy having issues with throttle, the two drivers finished in P10 and P11. The team has some work to do to get everything ready for tomorrow’s busy schedule, ending with the first race of the weekend.

It wouldn’t be a proper session without some investigations. Norman Nato was the first under the spotlight for speeding under a full-course yellow flag, resulting in his first driver reprimand infringement of this season. Max Günther, Jean-Eric Vergne and Jake Hughes were next in line, under investigation for a pit boost infringement. In this case the decision from the Race Control has not been released yet and the investigations are still open.