Formula E in Jeddah: Max Günther wins Free Practice 1, collision between Rowland & Barnard

DS Penske driver Maximilian Günther wins the first free practice session in Jeddah. The German set his fastest time just before the end of the session. Behind him, Pascal Wehrlein and Jake Dennis completed the Top 3. There was another upset at the very end: Oliver Rowland and Taylor Barnard touched each other.

The first session of the weekend got underway in Jeddah at 8pm local time. In typically warm conditions for Saudi Arabia, the drivers took to the track under the night sky and floodlights. As usual, there was of course the obligatory Full-Course Yellow test first. There were also some adjustments to the track in the run-up to the event: In addition to changes to some of the curbs, part of the track was also resurfaced.

The times were still very slow at the start of the session, but got faster and faster after around five minutes. There were repeated changes at the top of the timesheets. Nevertheless, the track record from last year was still a long way off.

Times still slow at first

After around ten minutes, Jake Dennis took the lead with a time of 1:18.483 minutes before Edoardo Mortara and then Dan Ticktum moved ahead of him. Ticktum improved again and was in the lead with a time of 1:18.000 minutes. Behind him was Pascal Wehrlein, who received a warning a few minutes earlier for not following the race director's instructions properly.

After the first half of the session, driving calmed down again somewhat. The leader was now Nico Müller with a time of 1:16.261 minutes. Sebastien Buemi was second behind him, with rookie Pepe Marti in third place. Shortly afterwards, he was involved in a tricky situation when he was driving slowly and failed to see Jean-Eric Vergne approaching.

Traffic troubles for JEV in Jeddah 👀#JeddahEPrix pic.twitter.com/y8LwsAM92g

— Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) February 12, 2026

Driving activity picks up again

Around 15 minutes before the end of the session, the time chase picked up again. Norman Nato initially took the lead. In typical Formula E fashion, things got hectic on the track again shortly before the end. The drivers tried to push their times further and clean up the track at the same time.

Jake Dennis was the next to take the lead with a time of 1:16.876 minutes. However, Maximilian Günther was able to lower his time again and won the first free practice session. Behind him were Wehrlein in second place and Dennis in third, with reigning world champion Oliver Rowland and Taylor Barnard colliding towards the end.

Except for the contact between Rowland and Barnard, the session ended without any major incidents. Only a few lap times were cancelled due to track limits and warnings were issued for obstructions. The second free practice session will follow tomorrow at 11:30 am - in addition to the livestream, you can of course also follow the session again in our live ticker.