F1 title fight is increasingly focused on McLaren, but Verstappen says he's still hopeful

Jeddah: Ahead of Sunday's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this Formula 1 season is looking like McLaren vs. McLaren. Still, defending champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull says he hasn't lost hope. McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri are the only ones to consistently have the pace through the first four rounds of the championship.

That was true again in practice Friday, although Norris was surprisingly beaten to top spot by Alpine's Pierre Gasly.

Norris has a three-point lead but admits he isn't at his best, while Piastri is the driver with momentum after winning in Bahrain last week.

Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes have all had their moments, but none has been a consistent challenger, as McLaren's 58-point constructors' championship lead shows.

Friday practice
Gasly was just .007 of a second faster than Norris in a tight first practice session Friday at the high-speed Jeddah track, where drivers speed between concrete walls either side of the course.

Charles Leclerc of Ferrari was .07 off Gasly in third and Piastri fourth, barely a tenth of a second off the pace.

Lewis Hamilton was eighth fastest in the other Ferrari, just ahead of the two Red Bulls of Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda. Verstappen told his team the car felt "very loose" in high-speed corners.

Verstappen's hope
Verstappen is the only non-McLaren driver to win a Grand Prix this season, but in Bahrain he was struggling so much that Red Bull motorsport adviser Helmut Marko said he was concerned the Dutch star might consider his future.

Verstappen said this week he wasn't considering the championship picture this early in the season.

"I'm not thinking about that. I just go race by race," he said. "I think at the moment, of course, we are not the quickest. So then naturally, it's very tough to fight for a championship, but it's still a very long road ... I'm hopeful that we can still improve things and we'll see what we get."

Two-time champion Fernando Alonso dampened speculation Verstappen could seek to join his team, Aston Martin, after Red Bull car designer Adrian Newey made that move last year.

Asked if he'd welcome being Verstappen's teammate, Alonso said Thursday: "Yes, but it's unlikely to happen. Very unlikely."

Alonso's current teammate is Lance Stroll, son of team owner Lawrence Stroll.

Busy schedule
Jeddah hosts the fifth race in six weeks in a hectic start to the season, which stays at a record 24 races. There's a little respite after Saudi Arabia, with two weeks till the next event in Miami.

"I think it's on the upper end of the limit. It feels like race 10 already," said Williams driver Alex Albon, adding it's especially tough on mechanics and other crew members.

"As drivers, we travel better than everyone else in the paddock. We stay in better hotels than everyone else in the paddock - it's just a function of being in a privileged position. With mechanics ... these are people with families. These are the people that really struggle."

The rookies are still enjoying their first taste of F1, though.

"It's just the beginning of my career, so I just want to keep racing and keep driving," said Sauber's Gabriel Bortoleto. "I'm learning new things every single weekend, so for me, if I could have another race next weekend, I would be very happy as well."