It's been a quiet session for Ferrari so far; Lewis Hamilton is sitting down in ninth place at the moment with a 1:29.914. His team-mate Charles Leclerc is further up the road, slipping in to third on the timesheets, just a fraction off his best mate Pierre Gasly's time.

As you can see from the previous post, Pierre Gasly shot to the top of the timesheets on his soft run with a 1:29.239. The Frenchman collected his, and the team's, first points of the season last weekend on Sakhir, so this is a positive start to round five in Saudi.

1. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) - 1:29.239

2. Lando Norris (McLaren) - +0.007

3. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.194

4. George Russell (Mercedes) +379

5. Carlos Sainz (Williams) +0.540

Pierre Gasly has reactions like one of our feline friends to avoid disaster in the Alpine around Turn 22 - there are 27 corners in total in Jeddah. Loads and loads.

George Russell is 0.372 seconds away from Lando Norris' quickest time... aaaaand Oscar Piastri beats the Mercedes driver's time to go second. The time between the two McLarens is 0.187s.

George Russell was leading the McLaren of Oscar Piastri after the first stints on the medium tyres, but now it's time to switch focus and pop on the red rubber for some soft running.

First to cross the line is Lando Norris, who clocks a 1:29.246 after his opening attempt.

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So sorry for the delays, folks.

Most drivers have headed back to the garage now, the first runs of this opening Saudi Arabian Grand Prix practice session complete. Jack Doohan in the Alpine and the Williams of Carlos Sainz the only two cars left standing.

Not the message I wanted to write, folks, but unfortunately, we are having major technical issues with the radio commentary. It's so big, in fact, we've never actually seen a problem like this before.

We're working hard to get it up and running, but again, so sorry for the delays. I'll do my best to keep your updated with what's going on on track.

George Russell improves on the mediums to clock a new time of 1:29.674.

Meanwhile, Oscar Piastri has a message for McLaren. "I touched the wall a little bit on the right-hand side," says the Australian. He adds it's only small, but the team should take a look.

Fellow Aussie Jack Doohan has also had a brush with the concrete, the Alpine driver giving the same warning as Piastri and Bearman.

Ollie Bearman screeches in the Haas. The teenager locks up towards the end of the lap on the hard tyre and clips the wall, taking to the run-off area for safety. "I don't know what happened," he tells his pit wall.

Oscar Piastri was a thirsty boy in Bahrain, after his drinks system failed during the race. This week, however, he has the opposite problem, as hie's leaking water in all over the place.

George Russell, who is dry, goes quickest with a 1:30.425 on the same medium rubber as Piastri.

Max Verstappen and George Russell jump above Lando Norris' time but it's Bahrain race winner Oscar Piastri who beats the lot, putting his McLaren top with a 1:31.548 on the mediums.

The opening team radio of the weekend goes to Mercedes, as Kimi Antonelli calls base to say he has "massive vibration on the brake." For the rest of the field, a mixture of medium and hard tyres have been bolted on early doors.

Lando Norris gets us off the mark with a 1:31.887 on the yellow compound.

Image source, FIA

Seven teams have brought upgrades to the Jeddah table this weekend including Ferrari, who ran a significant floor update last week in Bahrain.

Sauber

Front wing, floor body, beam wing, rear wing endplate, rear wing.

Ferrari

Rear wing, rear corner, beam wing,

Racing Bulls

Front wing, rear wing, beam wing.

Red Bull

Engine cover, beam wing.

Haas

Rear wing, front wing.

McLaren

Diffuser, rear corner.

Aston Martin

Rear wing.

First (good) Friday practice is green.

Pirelli has gone one step softer for this year's round five in Jeddah, with the C3 as the hard, the C4 as the medium and the C5 as the soft.

Drivers will get two sets of the white-marked hards, three sets of the yellow mediums and eight sets of the red soft tyre. With the weather predicted to be dry, the likelihood we'll see the green intermediates and blue wets this weekend is very slow.

The choice of compounds, Pirelli says in its preview, "is in line with the aim, shared with the FIA, F1 and the teams, to create more strategy choices for the race and therefore more exciting and unpredictable racing."

Image source, Getty Images

George Russell hopes Mercedes can show the same form in Saudi that they did last weekend in Bahrain. But the Briton added the Jeddah Corniche Circuit could suit Red Bull because of its high-speed similarities to Suzuka - the track Max Verstappen took his first win of the season at. Red Bull also dominated here last year, sealing a one-two finish.

Charles Leclerc says Ferrari are focused on not overheating the tyres this weekend, just like in Bahrain, while team-mate Lewis Hamilton revealed he has found a couple of things to aid his driving style as he continues to adapt to life in his new car.

For McLaren, Oscar Piastri is happy with car but agrees with his rivals the competition in Jeddah will be tough. Lando Norris has been explaining his issues this season, saying his experience in the car so far has been very challenging.

Nighttime in Jeddah doesn't bring much relief from the heat. Even at lights out the temperature will be over the 30C mark.

Today will see plenty of sunshine with a light northwesterly wind which will decrease for second practice.

Qualifying on Saturday is set to be the hottest day with a gentle breeze once again.

For Sunday's 50-lap grand prix, which starts at 8pm local time, conditions will be fair and dry with zero risk of rain.

BBC Sport's Harry Benjamin looks ahead to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix and the five things to look out for over the race weekend at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

Image source, Getty Images

Ollie Bearman walks in (or cycles) to the paddock today as a full-time F1 driver. But just over 12 months ago, the teenager was a Ferrari substitute, stepping in last minute when Carlos Sainz was diagnosed with appendicitis.

The Briton finished seventh on his debut and said he was left physically drained by the experience. This year, he hopes to be stronger, "as it was a crazy race," he said on Thursday.