F1 is in Saudi Arabia for another weekend of fast paced desert action.
But the practice has been rocked by an explosion at the nearby Aramco oil plant.
Amid all the talk about Lewis Hamilton’s bid to wrestle the world championship back of Max Verstappen, it was Ferrari who dominated in Bahrain.
Charles Leclerc took pole with team-mate Carlos Sainz in second.
Red Bull appeared to have more pace than McLaren but disaster struck towards the end of the race when both Verstappen and Sergio Perez were forced to retire with engine failures.
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What we know so far
The Saudi Arabia Grand Prix, which is scheduled to take place on Sunday, could be called off following another suspected attack just miles away from the Jeddah circuit.
The shocking incident comes just days after a petroleum depot was attacked by rebels.
F1 chiefs will be monitoring the situation, and they could now decide to axe the second race of the season.
Black smoke has been seen in the sky near the circuit, as videos on social media showed the Aramco facility nearby engulfed in flames.
The suspected attack has occurred just 12 miles away from the Formula One race track
Flights are being held
All flights into Jeddah are either grounded or being held in a flight path around the city.
Smoke can be seen rising from the nearby Aramco Site
Black clouds emerge
A huge explosion has taken place just miles away from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix circuit.
Huge black clouds are coming from the nearby town after the incident.
Flights from Jeddah are being held at sea or diverted.
There are fears the GP will be called off as a result of that incident.
Breaking – explosion close to the track
Today’s practice has been rocked by an explosion close to the track with a fuel depot suspected to have been caught on fire.
We’ll have more updates on this as it unfolds.
FP1 is done – Leclerc is quickest
The Ferrari man leaves it late to pop to the top of the timesheets. Verstappen is second-quickest and Bottas is third.
Early days but interesting to see the two Haas cars at the bottom after their solid runs in Bahrain.
Hamilton in P9. Russell in 15th.
Merc still have a lot of work to do.
Anyway…back on track, Verstappen now tops the timesheets
The Red Bull man is leading the way from Gasly while Leclerc is now third quickest.
Hamilton down in seventh. Russell in 14th.
All flights into Jeddah look to be diverted.
A quick check on Flightradar24 shows plans being held in formation.
Mildly distracted here in Jeddah…
Thick black clouds of smoke are seen in the distance of the race track.
Remember, I reported last Sunday how a fuel depot was targeted by rebels and set on fire.
Nothing to suggest anything of the kind just yet, but organisers are investigating.
Sainz in P15, Leclerc is P13
Early days yet for the Ferrari duo, who dominated last week in Bahrain.
Green flag
We are off again after a short delay to sweep up the mess. Leclerc, Sainz and Russell are the first three cars on track.
We have 33 minutes remaining here of FP1.
Hamilton currently in P5
It is Verstappen, Tusnoda, Gasly, Perez. A Red Bull top four.
TV replays show it was Norris who clipped the wall
The McLaren man hit the 50 metre marker, used to indicate where turn one is located.
Marshals making a bit of a ham-fisted effort to clear up the mess. They seem to be running over it!
Red flag – debris on track
The first stoppage of the day in F1. We have had delays in the other series this morning.
This time there is debris on track, that looks like an advertising board that has been smashed into lost of tiny pieces.
There is going to be a short delay here while the marshals sweep this lot up.
Problem for Magnussen
After his excellent Bahrain GP where he was fifth. He’s off to a bad start in Jeddah as he has a hydraulic leak.
Suspected radiator change, so he will miss a chunk of this session while the Haas team make the switch.
Hamilton still has Saudi concerns
Lewis Hamilton has reiterated that he still has concerns about racing in Saudi Arabia, and has called for change in the country.
The F1 ace was speaking ahead of this weekend’s Grand Prix in Jeddah, and believes drivers are ‘duty bound’ to raise awareness regarding Saudi Arabia’s human rights record.
The Englishman has previously said he was ‘not comfortable’ with racing in the country, and now takes part there just weeks after the Saudi regime executed 81 people in a single day.
Ahead of the first practice session, Hamilton said: “We don’t decide where we go, and I think we’re duty bound to try and do what we can.
“It’s not necessarily our responsibility that we’re brought here but we try and do what we can, and I think it’s important that we just try to educate ourselves.
“Ultimately it’s the responsibility of those in power to really make changes, and we’re not really seeing any. So we need to see more.”
Problem for Alonso
Alpine say they found “a suspected sealing issue” with his power-unit after Bahrain. They have taken the precaution of swapping it for a new one from his pool of engines. No penalties triggered yet, but that sounds like one engine down from his allocation of three.
FP1 is Go in Jeddah
Plenty of early action here in Saudi Arabia. The track is busy as drivers get used to driving these new cars around this terrifyingly-fast circuit.
The second race of the season
Good afternoon and welcome to SunSport’s live Formula1 coverage of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend.
Just five days after the explosive season opener in Bahrain, Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen and co. are back to race it out at the high-speed Jeddah Corniche Circuit.
Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
