Yemen’s Huthi guerrilla group took charge of the explosion at a local oil refinery. Saudi Arabia’s F1 weekend continues, drivers are not allowed to comment on the explosion.
Jeddah
Ferrarin Charles Leclerc kept the top pace in the first rehearsals of the F1 series race weekend in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Leclerc toured his best lap on Friday at 1.30,772.
The second fastest in the opening practice was Red Bull Max Verstappen and the third Alfa Romeo Finnish driver Valtteri Bottas.
Verstappen was 0.116 seconds behind the top and Bottas 0.312 seconds. Leclerc’s fastest lap time came with soft and Verstappen’s hard tires.
The opening rehearsals for the second weekend of the F1 season were hampered by a strong wind. Many drivers also complained about bouncing their cars.
During Friday’s rehearsals, a heavy cloud of smoke spread across the sky in Jeddah about ten miles from the track. It was an explosion caused by a missile strike at a local oil refinery.
According to the news agency Reuters, behind the explosion was an operation by a huthi guerrilla group in Yemen. Guerrilla group spokesperson Yahya Sarea confirmed the matter to Reuters.
Season the Haas stable, which had been tinted in the gp of the Bahrain that opened in Bahrain, was in great difficulty during the first rehearsals in Jeddah.
Haasin Kevin Magnussen could not get a lap at all due to a hydraulic problem in his car. Stable friend Mick Schumacher was the slowest in the first training session.
Mercedes’ pace was also sluggish, for Lewis Hamilton was ninth and George Russell only 15th.
CEO of the F1 Series Stefano Domenicali assured Friday during the second practice that the F1 program for the weekend will remain unchanged and that it will be safe to conduct the race. The second race of the F1 season is scheduled for Sunday.
The FIA and F1 management as well as the drivers and team leaders met after the second practice to discuss the matter. Prior to that, the stables had announced that the drivers would not give interviews to the media after Friday’s rehearsals.
After the meeting, Domenicali told reporters that the race weekend will continue unchanged. According to Domenical, all the teams were behind the decision.
“We need to trust local authorities, not just here but all over the world,” Domenicali said.
In others in the exercises the fastest was again Leclerc. His second practice run ended faster than planned when he hit the wall with his car in other exercises.
The second of both drills of the day was Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. He was 0.116 seconds behind the top pace in the opening practice and 0.140 second in the second practice. The best lap of the day in Verstappen was born with medium-hard tires.
Bottas was ninth in the other exercises.