SAUDI ARABIA: Alpine's Pierre Gasly set the pace ahead of McLaren's Lando Norris in first practice at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Gasly completed his performance run on soft tyres later than the usual front-runners, benefitting from more track grip, as he pipped Norris by 0.007 seconds.

Norris, leading the championship from team-mate Oscar Piastri by three points after four races, was 0.063secs quicker than Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

Piastri was fourth, 0.095secs off Norris, ahead of Williams' Alex Albon and Mercedes' George Russell.

The second Williams of Carlos Sainz, Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton and Red Bull's Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10.

Verstappen's struggles with getting a satisfactory balance out of the Red Bull continued - he complained of understeer in the early part of the session, and then said the car was "very loose, especially in the high speed" in the closing stages.

When it was suggested to him by engineer Giampiero Lambiase that he try backing off on entry to the long, banked Turn 13 left-hander for a faster exit, he replied: "I can't. Imagine have no balance, basically."

There were no major incidents, although Piastri was one of several drivers to lightly brush the wall around the high-speed, high-risk Jeddah street circuit, and Norris one of a number to lock up at either the first or last corners as they got to grips with the dusty track in the early stages of the weekend.

Gasly's pace is not an indication that Alpine will be competing at the front this weekend. Practice sessions are notoriously unreliable indicators of form because fuel loads and car specifications are not revealed by the teams and can have a significant impact on lap time.