F1 Saudi Arabian GP live updates - media day

Tomorrow: FP1 and FP2 live coverage

And that's all from us! Thanks for joining us throughout the day, and we'll return tomorrow for live coverage of FP1 and FP2 from Jeddah.

On Sunday, you'll also be able to tune in to the Race Centre, live with the Red Flags Pod - with special guest appearances! 

Watch: Race Center LIVE: Saudi Arabian GP w/The Red Flags Pod

Norris: Compressed start to 2025 has stopped overthinking

Although it was obvious last weekend that Lando Norris wasn't the happiest chappie in the paddock, he's grateful that he has a chance to get another go straight away this weekend to deliver a better performance.

"I think the fact that it's been quite a compressed start to the season has been a good thing.

"I think if it's more spread out, sometimes you allow yourself to think too much about it, like 'maybe just one weekend off and next weekend will be fine' and maybe you aren't forced to think of resolving some of the issues as quickly."

A quiet night in: Piastri "kept it sensible" with Bahrain win celebrations

Oscar Piastri described the McLaren celebrations after securing victory last weekend in the most Oscar Piastri way possible. If he was any more level-headed, he'd have a flat-top...

"I behaved myself; I didn't get involved, but it was a big moment for everyone involved, all the shareholders. I think regardless of where McLaren finishes, it's always a good party, but I think this year it obviously had a bit more extra celebration, so it was nice to kind of be able to give some extra motivation to have a good night.

"I kept it very sensible and if I didn't have a race this weekend, maybe it would have looked a bit different..."

Hamilton on Jeddah: Drivers are working overtime to perform

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

To round out the Ferrari duo, Lewis Hamilton has given the Jeddah circuit his thumbs up - although I feel like the drivers are surprisingly positive about it every year. Nonetheless, here's what he said about Saudi Arabia's high-speed venue.

"I think it's very fast, mostly high speed and it's massively challenging for the drivers - obviously with the climate, the temperature, the G that we're putting in the high speed corners, and then mentally just everything's going so quick.

"It's hard to explain it, but you're definitely working overtime when you're driving the circuit, so I wouldn't want it to change. I think it's been a great circuit for us the last couple of years."

Leclerc: Bahrain podium was on without safety car

Ferrari's Bahrain Grand Prix strategy was hindered slightly with the appearance of the safety car - and Charles Leclerc believes it cost the team a chance at the podium. The team started with two medium stints for both drivers, with possibilities for either a hard or soft final stint before the lap 32 pause.

"I honestly think that the podium was possible in Bahrain without the safety car, but it's the way it is. That's how racing goes sometimes.

"I think we are doing steps in the right direction, whether the podium is going to be this weekend or later on, I don't know, but I think we've got our chances.

"We've been taking a slightly different directions in the last few races, which I particularly like. If we keep finding gains by going in that direction, I hope we can get our first podium."

Antonelli, a year on from his first F1 test

The rise of Andrea Kimi Antonelli has been a prodigious one, and it was a year ago that the Mercedes driver got his first run in an F1 car as part of the team's testing of previous cars programme. Here's his recollections:

"It feels like yesterday, honestly, in the snow and rain. I remember that day, I couldn't believe when I woke up and I opened the curtains and it was literally snowing.

"I was like, 'this might not be the best condition to do my first ever Formula 1 test'! I've changed a lot [since], I have a lot more experience, and a lot more knowledge of of how everything works, so definitely it's been a great journey since that first test. Hopefully it will get even better!"

We're coming to the end of the final sessions - our man MMB is back-to-backing a few of them so we'll get the drivers' thoughts imminently. We'll bring you the Ferrari, McLaren, and closing thoughts of Haas boss Ayao Komatsu before we close up for the day!

TSUNODA: MORE POSITIVITY REQUIRED

Yuki Tsunoda talks about needing to be "more positive throughout" in the face of big behavioural swings in his RB21 across different qualifying sessions and qualifying. He says there are a lot of things he doesn't understand yet about how to get the most out of the car, including tyre warm-up.

In the immediate aftermath of last weekend's Bahrain GP, where Yuki finished ninth and teammate Max Verstappen was sixth, there was an impromptu postmortem meeting including team boss Christian Horner, driver advisor Helmut Marko and technical director Pierre Wache. This was reportedly rather tense.

Yuki reckons the actual debrief wasn't quite so fraught, though "less happy mood than usual".

Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull Racing, Helmut Marko, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Mark Thompson - Getty Images

Russell: To be ahead of a McLaren in Bahrain was "really positive"

Finishing second in Bahrain despite a troubled car was an achievement in of itself for George Russell, but the Briton also believes that beating a McLaren despite the Woking squad's tyre preservation advantage added to that positivity.

"I think Bahrain was a really positive weekend for us because the 1st 3 races were all relatively similar with a bit more high speed, very smooth tarmacs, very cold races.

"Bahrain was the outlier and we all knew that McLaren was gonna take a huge step forward and they clearly showed how competitive they were.  Oscar just drove away into the distance.

"For us to be ahead of any McLaren was a huge result."

Caption this?

Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Stroll: Aston excited about potential, but "it sucks" to finish far down the order

Lance Stroll spoke about the dichotomy that Aston Martin currently sits within - at the factory, he reckons the dynamic shows motivation and future progress, but that's not matched with difficult on-track performances.

"I think there's definitely a different dynamic. I think everyone is motivated and excited about the future. We have incredible facilities, we have a new wind tunnel, we have new simulators, so we have all the tools to be a great team and develop the car.

"I think that's motivating and exciting for everyone, and you can definitely feel that here at the track back at Silverstone. Of course the hard days are hard, you know, we're finishing [towards the back] in Bahrain, it sucks, no one's happy.

"But there's definitely a lot of excitement for the future, I think everyone's focused on that."

Verstappen: Tough to fight for 2025 title, but hopeful of improvement

Amid all of the questions about his future (more on that later), Max Verstappen felt that Red Bull was not currently in a position for him to fight for a fifth consecutive drivers' title. Yet, he's hopeful of a recovery.

"I think at the moment, of course, we are not the quickest, and then actually it's very tough to fight for a championship. But it's still a very long, long road.

"We were sitting around this time last year, at round five it was all looking great. And then we all know how the season ended up. So I'm hopeful that we can still improve things, and we'll see what we get."

Alonso hoping for better Jeddah race, circuit plays to car's strengths

Fernando Alonso is one of four drivers yet to score a point this weekend amid reliability struggles and varied performance at Aston Martin. But he believes Saudi Arabia should be a much more prosperous weekend.

"The first four grands prix, the slow speed corners were probably the weakest parts for us at the track. But there are still some concerns about bouncing that we are facing from time to time. But Jeddah is high-grip, a lot of high-speed corners, so it should be much better."

Bearman details life changes since last year's Saudi F1 debut

In deputising for Carlos Sainz at Jeddah last year, as the Spaniard was hospitalised with appendicitis, Bearman burst onto the scene with an impressive seventh place. This helped him secure a full-time F1 drive with Haas, and he spoke about how his life has changed going from F2 to the top tier.

"Since my debut a lot of things have changed, stepping into F1 by definition you have more fans and people knowing you, and that comes with good things and bad things.

"It's definitely changed a lot but that's definitely the life, stepping into Formula 1. One of the things that stands out to me is the travel and schedule. 14 in f2 felt like a lot, but now I'm already nearly five races into my career - and with all the sponsor commitments, it's a full-time job."

Bortoleto: You need patience at the back in F1

Gabriel Bortoleto says he's spoken with other F1 drivers, taking their advice of patience in dealing with being in a car that is unlikely to score points at most races. Bortoleto is yet to break his duck so far, although has come into F1 with pedigree after winning the F2 and F3 titles back to back.

"The team has been very clear with me from the beginning," the Brazilian explained. "It's not nice to be in the situation we are, but that's life."

Gasly expects "tricky" Jeddah weekend for Alpine

Pierre Gasly, Alpine

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

After finishing an impressive seventh in Bahrain, Pierre Gasly senses that it might be difficult for Alpine to follow that up in Saudi Arabia, particularly as the team's Renault engine is known to have a marginal energy deployment deficit compared to the other teams. Jeddah, being at the quicker end of the spectrum, will expose this more in theory.

"We know it's tracks where potentially things could be more a bit more tricky and a bit more difficult for us. But at the same time we know what we fight with; this is what we got and we've got to go to fight with what we have.

"On paper we know this track is quite sensitive to it, but now it's up to us to try to be as competitive as we can and and hopefully we can still make something out of this weekend."

Jeddah shows what F1 downforce is like versus F2 - Doohan

Jack Doohan made his F2 debut at the Jeddah circuit back in 2021 with MP Motorsport, after securing the runner-up spot in that year's F3 championship against title winner Dennis Hauger. He's raced at the Saudi circuit twice more, finishing second in the 2023 F2 feature race.

He's expecting it to feel a lot quicker this time with F1 machinery - the high-speed nature of the track will require a very different approach.

"Somewhere like Bahrain, you have more low-speed corners and and you don't obviously feel as much the downforce or the the elements that a F1 car has to provide.

"Here you get somewhere where you have, you know, a lot more downforce, you're really experiencing what a Formula 1 car has to offer.

"It's all about timing, especially through that first sector, and about millimetres. Every corner seems to fall back on itself, left into a right or a right into a left, and it's crucial that we time that well."

Ocon: Haas doesn't feel like a small team

Although he stopped short of comparing Haas to his former team in Alpine, Esteban Ocon reckoned that the team's willingness to respond to improving the car shows to him that it belies its size.

"As a driver, from where I'm sitting, I don't feel this team is small. I think this team is reacting quicker than I've ever felt before in terms of producing parts, in terms of producing solutions, coming up with data points, .

"It's great to see; we are a lot less, but there is two times the work that has been done in the past."

Sainz: "Looking back, I would have definitely eased off" in Bahrain to score points

Sainz speaks to a crowd of journalists, one looking distinctly glum

Photo by: Peter Fox - Getty Images

Carlos Sainz noted that his eagerness to battle with the cars around him at the Bahrain Grand Prix might have cost him a chance to secure points. The Spaniard retired with damage, after a skirmish with Yuki Tsunoda.

"A lot of work being done in between races to understand this. Good quali [in Bahrain], a bit more of a difficult race, , choosing to fight cars that maybe I shouldn't have chosen to fight, but it's been a bit of a long time for me since I was fighting these guys and I was comfortable enough to fight them.

"Looking back, I would have definitely eased off a bit the the fight to them and just focusing getting the points which in the midfield is a trade off that I maybe need to remind myself about."

Lawson: "Cool to rinse and repeat" with triple header

Liam Lawson comes to the end of a triple header in which he's been thrown into the Racing Bulls outfit after his demotion from Red Bull. The Kiwi is yet to score any points so far this season, but reckons having three races on the bounce has been good to "have another shot" after a tough weekend.

"I think it's been in a way quite cool to just be able to rinse and repeat every week, also because they haven't been the easiest weekends. I think when you have a good weekend, sometimes it's nice to sit on that.

"But when you have a tough weekend, you just want to go out again and have another shot at it, and that's what we have the ability to do right now. Obviously it'd be lovely to finish a triple header on a good weekend, and put us in a good place going forward."

Race our writers! The Motorsport.com fantasy F1 league

For those of you who are part of our Fantasy F1 league, here's a little preview of this weekend. I've had to sell Bearman; as someone trying to achieve the lowest score possible, the Brit did not factor into my plans. I've traded him for Fernando Alonso, and also swapped the Haas chassis for the Aston Martin.

We've got our team of Mark Mann-Bryans, Fil Cleeren, and Ronald Vording in the paddock this weekend, bring you up to date with the latest news across Autosport and Motorsport.com. 

Nico Hulkenberg's session will be up first in about 45 minutes' time; the German was disqualified in Bahrain after exceeding plank wear by about 0.5mm.

Saudi Arabian GP: Media day updates from Jeddah

Hello everyone, and thanks for joining! Today's our usual F1 media day, and we'll be bringing you coverage of what people say in the Saudi Arabia paddock, and anything else that goes on in the prelude to 2025's fifth race of the year.