Oliver Rowland ended the first free practice session in Jeddah fastest as the Nissan powertrains dominated in the Saudi Arabian night.
The Barnsley-born British driver set a 1:15.849 to end the 40-minute session fastest, ahead of his teammate Norman Nato, who set a 1:15.980.
PitBoost will debut for the first time in Jeddah on Friday, marking the first time the global public was able to see PitBoost pit stops in action. However, PitBoost will not be used in Saturday’s race.
Edoardo Mortara set the third-fastest time of the session for Mahindra with a 1:16.069. The Swiss-Italian driver was ahead of Sam Bird’s McLaren, who finished fourth in the Nissan-powered McLaren.
Dan Ticktum was the lead Porsche driver in the Koir. The Chinese team is running last season’s powertrain, but that didn’t stop him from finishing ahead of Porsche’s Season 10 champion Pascal Wehrlein, who ended the session in sixth.
Stoffel Vandoorne was seventh in the Maserati, splitting the factory Porsche drivers, as Antonio Felix Da Costa finished the practice in eighth.
Maximilian Günther was the lead DS Penske car, setting a lap time of 1:16.348 to finish in ninth place, ahead of Mitch Evans, who rounded out the top ten for Jaguar.
Nick Cassidy was just outside the top ten in the second Jaguar. The British team will be hoping to take a step forward in Saudi Arabia after losing touch with Porsche and Nissan.
Nico Müller was the lead Andretti car in twelfth. The Porsche-powered car was six-tenths off Rowland’s best lap time.
David Beckmann was 13th for Koir, ahead of Season 9 World Champion Jake Dennis in the second Andretti car.
Nyck De Vries was 15th fastest for Mahindra, and Jake Hughes was 16th for Maserati. Envision continues to struggle, with Robin Frijns finishing in 17th and Sébastien Buemi only managing 19th.
Jean-Éric Vergne was 18th in the second DS Penske. Lola’s Zane Maloney and Lucas Di Grassi have picked up a 20-place grid penalty for the race on Friday after opening the e-motors on their cars.
Taylor Barnard finished the day in 22nd after not setting a 350kW lap in his Nissan-powered McLaren.
