The Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is to go ahead as planned despite an attack on an oil facility close to the Jeddah circuit.

Smoke was seen billowing into the sky for miles around during Friday's practice session, with Yemen's Houthi rebels claiming responsibility for the explosion.

The incident occurred at an Aramco refinery roughly 12 miles from the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, which staged the inaugural Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in December last year.

Friday's second practice session was delayed briefly as drivers and team principals were summoned by Formula One CEO Stefano Domenicali, but it was later confirmed the event has not been cancelled.

An F1 statement read: "F1 has been in close contact with the relevant authorities following the situation that took place today.

"The authorities have confirmed the event can continue as planned and we will remain in close contact with them and all the teams and closely monitor the situation."

Saudi Arabia has been fighting the Houthi forces since March 2015 in response to the latter ousting Yemen's previous president.

Lewis Hamilton is eager to get his teeth stuck into another Formula One title challenge as soon as possible, but his Mercedes continues to struggle in 2022.

New regulations in F1 this season, introduced to encourage "closer racing", have already shaken up the grid – to Hamilton's detriment.

Charles Leclerc led a Ferrari one-two at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, while Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez would both have finished ahead of Hamilton, too, had Red Bull not suffered a dramatic double retirement.

The seven-time champion has been honest enough to acknowledge his W13 car lacks the pace of its rivals, but that does not mean he is happy to take a back seat.

"I don't currently feel too stressed, but I want to get in the fight as soon as possible," Hamilton said ahead of FP1 at the Saudi Arabian GP on Friday.

"The last race was an amazing feeling for us, given where we thought we were going to be, to come out with the result that we did.

"But we can't rely every weekend on that to happen, so we need to move fast, and move forward as fast as we can."

Hamilton would likely have been frustrated then by his performance in the first practice session later in the day, running in an alarming ninth as Leclerc and Ferrari again set the pace.

While Red Bull are confident they have mastered the issues that prompted their Bahrain DNFs, there is little evidence so far of Mercedes getting to grips with the porpoising that has caused Hamilton such problems.

Mercedes team-mate George Russell was down in 15th on Friday, but he at least appears a little more patient in his first year with the team.

"In Formula One, things change incredibly quickly," Russell said. "We are very fortunate that the calendar is not very dense at the start of this season, and even if it's a couple of months, we're only six or seven races down out of a 23-race season.

"If you come out of the blocks incredibly fast after the summer break, even as Mercedes and Lewis did last year, you're still in with a shot.

"So, we need to be in almost damage limitation mode at the moment, pick up the pieces where there's an opportunity, and don't throw away unnecessary points."

Mercedes have not failed to take either a pole position or race win through two grands prix of a season since 2013.

Meanwhile, Russell could become the second Silver Arrows driver – after Michael Schumacher in 2010 – to complete three races without reaching the podium, having deputised for Hamilton once while with Williams.

Red Bull say they have located and fixed the problem that forced the team into a double DNF at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix last weekend.

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen and team-mate Sergio Perez saw their respective challenges falter in the final laps after both suffered mechanical malfunctions.

Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, along with Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, instead made up the podium as their rivals were left empty-handed.

But ahead of this weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Red Bull revealed they have identified the issue as a lack of fuel pressure late on, and have now rectified the problem.

"The correct amount of fuel was in both cars, but a vacuum prevented the pumps from drawing fuel and delivering it to the engine," said a team spokesperson.

"We've taken the necessary steps to correct this issue and we expect no problems this weekend."

Red Bull will look to get their first points of the season on the board in Jeddah, where Verstappen took a second-place finish behind Hamilton last year.

The race will proceed without Sebastian Vettel, as the Aston Martin driver and four-time world champion continues to recover from COVID-19.

Sebastian Vettel will miss this weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as he continues his COVID-19 recovery.

The Aston Martin team announced on Friday that Vettel would be replaced for a second successive race by Nico Hulkenberg.

He missed the team's deadline to show he was race fit, after it was disclosed on Thursday that Vettel had yet to test negative for the coronavirus.

Four-time world champion Vettel had been hoping for a significant upturn in his recent fortunes this season, but it has begun in disappointing fashion for the German.

He had to sit out last weekend's opener in Bahrain after testing positive, and now he will have to watch from afar again as racing goes ahead in Jeddah.

Reserve driver Hulkenberg finished 17th in Bahrain, with Lance Stroll 12th, as the Aston Martin team failed to finish in the points.

Aston Martin said in a Twitter statement on Friday: "@HulkHulkenberg will practice, qualify and race alongside @lance_stroll. Despite lack of mileage in the #AMR22, Nico coped well in Bahrain and we are sure he will do likewise in Jeddah. We expect Sebastian Vettel to be fit for the #AustralianGP."

Vettel, 34, won his world titles consecutively from 2010 to 2013, and he joined Aston Martin ahead of the 2021 season.

The Australian Grand Prix weekend runs from April 8-10 in Melbourne.

Sebastian Vettel could be forced to sit out a second race after Aston Martin said he remained positive for COVID-19 and had not yet travelled to the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

The four-time world champion had been hoping for a significant upturn in his recent fortunes this season, but it has begun in disappointing fashion for the German.

He had to sit out last weekend's opener in Bahrain after testing positive for the coronavirus, and stand-in Nico Hulkenberg could be pressed into action again in Jeddah.

Vettel, 34, won his world titles consecutively from 2010 to 2013, and he joined Aston Martin ahead of the 2021 season.

Aston Martin said Vettel would be given until Friday to return a negative test, otherwise the team will plan without him for this weekend's racing.

The team said on Twitter: "Sebastian Vettel has not yet returned the required negative COVID test to fly to the #SaudiArabiaGP. Nico Hulkenberg will be in Jeddah to deputise for Seb if necessary. We will delay our final decision until Friday to provide Seb every opportunity to race."

Hulkenberg finished 17th in Bahrain, with Lance Stroll 12th, as Aston Martin failed to finish in the points.

The new Formula One season is only a single race old, but Charles Leclerc has already matched the achievement of one title-winning former Ferrari star.

Now, ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Leclerc is out to try to repeat a Michael Schumacher feat and set a championship charge in motion.

The Monegasque driver led a Ferrari one-two in Bahrain last week, holding off Max Verstappen before the defending champion's mechanical woes ensured Carlos Sainz joined his team-mate on the top two steps of the podium.

It was the Scuderia's first race win since the 2019 Singapore GP, another one-two when Leclerc finished second to Sebastian Vettel.

The Leclerc-Sainz one-two was Ferrari's 85th in F1 – a record – and signalled a return to form, coming at the end of a weekend they had dominated, with the race winner also qualifying fastest to start from pole position.

Heading into the rest of the season, that should certainly provide Leclerc with encouragement, given the last Scuderia driver to start the season with a win from pole was Kimi Raikkonen in 2007. That was the most recent season in which a Ferrari driver won the title.

Indeed, should Leclerc convert pole again in Saudi Arabia, he would become the first Ferrari man to do so in the first two races of a campaign since Schumacher in his final title-winning season in 2004.

Leclerc and Sainz each discussed their title ambitions following Bahrain, so last week's runner-up will hope to go with his colleague again.

Ferrari have never had a one-two in each of the first two grands prix of a season, while Raikkonen and Felipe Massa in 2008 were their last duo to achieve such a result in consecutive races at any stage of the year.

Meanwhile, if Leclerc hopes to follow in Schumacher's footsteps, Mercedes rival George Russell does not.

Schumacher in 2010, then in the twilight of his legendary career after coming out of retirement, was the only Silver Arrows driver to this point fail to make the podium in his first three races with the team.

A pit-stop error and a puncture saw Russell finish his Mercedes debut in ninth when deputising for Lewis Hamilton at the 2020 Sakhir GP, while he was fourth behind his new team-mate last week.

The Red Bull woe that boosted Ferrari also rescued that three-four result for Mercedes, but team principal Toto Wolff said: "It's too early to look at the championship as it stands. If you look at the pecking order today, it seems a long shot to even be in contention for any of the championships.

"If I look at [Bahrain] as a single race weekend, we probably scored the maximum of points that we could have. And we need to take it from there.

"Every weekend counts and, at the moment, it's singular events because, realistically, when you're third on the road, you can't think about winning it."

Somehow, the opening race of the 2022 Formula One season in Bahrain last weekend managed to compare to the drama of 2021.

The first Ferrari one-two finish since Singapore in 2019, wheel-to-wheel duels between race winner Charles Leclerc and reigning world champion Max Verstappen, Mercedes achieving damage limitation with late DNFs for both Red Bull cars, new regulations creating the potential for a huge shakeup in the pecking order – there was a lot that went on at the Sakhir circuit on Sunday.

Ferrari are the biggest story coming into Jeddah this weekend, though.

There was enough to suggest Ferrari would compete with Red Bull and Mercedes coming out of winter testing, but just how competitive remained to be seen.

Despite Verstappen's failure to finish, Leclerc and Carlos Sainz dispelled any doubt in that regard with a maximum points haul. Something that arguably reinforces the point on Ferrari's strength was Sainz admitting he did not have the best of weekends.

"I mean in FP1, FP2 and FP3 I was very far behind, the most far that I've been ever in Ferrari and that's why even with a one-two that we scored I'm not entirely happy with the weekend, because as a Ferrari driver it's been my most difficult weekend," Sainz said.

"It just shows I need to put my head down, understand this car, understand where is Charles making the difference with his driving and the way he's approaching the corners and driving the tyres, also in the race."

For Leclerc, however, there's a belief that he finally has a car accordant to his talent to compete for the driver's title.

"Coming into this season, we surely knew we were going to be in a better position compared to the past two years but we didn't really know where, and now we see that we are actually in the mix to fight for a title, so it's amazing," he said.

Ferrari and Mercedes battle across the grid

The fascinating battle between a resurgent Ferrari and a previously dominant Mercedes will not just be fought between the factory teams this weekend in Saudi Arabia.

Amid new regulations, an interesting detail was the battle below the top teams. Ferrari power units made for five of the top ten positions in Sakhir, and four of the top six.

Meanwhile, apart from Lewis Hamilton and George Russell in the factory cars, Mercedes-powered cars made up the bottom six cars to have finished.

The Ferrari-powered Haas and Alfa Romeo have long been lagging at the back of the pack, but now look strong enough to take up the fight to Alpine, as well as the ambitious and Mercedes-powered McLaren and Aston Martin teams.

The midfield battle will be as fierce as the one at the front of the grid, while Saudi Arabia might shed some more light on the McLarens of Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo.

How quickly Red Bull bounce back?

Red Bull provided the bulk of the late drama in Sakhir, with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez both failing to finish, due to fuel pump failure.

New fuel regulations for 2022 have meant higher engine temperatures on lower fuel, and Red Bull did not do enough low-fuel running during winter testing to encounter what they did in Sakhir.

Meanwhile, Mercedes and Ferrari were able to rectify these problems heading into the season start.

The question is, though the Red Bull is unquestionably strong in terms of race pace, how much will Verstappen have to play catch-up in the drivers' standings as the team sorts their fuel pump problem out?

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

Drivers

1. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) 26
2. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) 18
3. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) 15
4. George Russell (Mercedes) 12
5. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) 10

Constructors

1. Ferrari 44
2. Mercedes 27
3. Haas 10
4. Alfa Romeo 9
5. Alpine 8

Lewis Hamilton hopes he can continue to use his position within Formula One to push for greater diversity, saying such an achievement would be "more rewarding than any championship".

The Mercedes driver has won a joint-record seven world titles across his career, tied only with Michael Schumacher, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest in the sport's history.

Yet he has commanded just as much attention for his off-track activities in recent years, with the Briton leading anti-racism and pro-LGBTQ demonstrations within F1.

Speaking ahead of this weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – where he protested against anti-LGBTQ laws last year – Hamilton revealed he hopes to thrive in continuing to push for broader change.

"That's my role here I think to continue to hold those conversations, sit with Stefano [Domenicali] and say what are you doing and how can we work together?" the 37-year-old told Sky Sports.

"It goes back to bringing people on the journey rather than calling people out and unfortunately it takes a lot of yapping, but I think people seem more keen to be on the journey together and they empathise more with it and say yes, we can do a better job.

"I've got this platform and I am able to apply pressure in an uncomfortable way sometimes, but also it is a real opportunity to spark that change and that for me is more rewarding than any championship.

"My goal is that in the next five, 10 years you're looking back at the sport and I am watching TV, hopefully with my kids, and they see young women engineers and mechanics and they'll know there is an opportunity."

Having lost the 2021 F1 World Championship to Red Bull's Max Verstappen in controversial circumstances, Hamilton was denied a record-breaking eighth title.

But while winning honours remains a motivation for Hamilton, he feels such feats do not move the needle on the matters he wishes to help solve.

"I think as I started getting older, I started thinking I am winning these championships but what does it really mean?" he added.

"I realised that these championships are very rewarding personally, but they're not changing anything.

"You have another credit to your name, but it doesn't change the world, it doesn't change the fact we still have wars, we still have racial injustice.

"There are still people being abuse, there are all sorts of things out there, so what are we going to use this medium for, what are we going to use this platform for?

"I guess I really discovered my purpose – it's not just being a racing driver."

Formula One chief executive Stefano Domenicali is buoyed by Ferrari's resurgence, saying it is ultimately good for the sport.

Charles Leclerc's win in the 2022 season opener in Bahrain on Sunday was Ferrari's first since 2019, and the last time Ferrari claimed a win from pole position in the season opener was with Kimi Raikkonen in 2007, who went on to win that year's driver's championship.

Along with passing on his congratulations to the team, Domenicali - a former team principal with Ferrari - believes it will invigorate interest in the sport.

"Next week there will be another race, then there is Melbourne and then Imola," he told Sky Sport. "I am convinced that we will find the [stands at the] Tosa and Rivazza corners as full as in the good old days.

"The satisfaction for the new regulations lay in seeing a beautiful, intense and interesting race for everyone.

"Then seeing Ferrari so competitive is an extraordinary sign. I say this with caution, but I am very happy. I was certainly pleased for Mattia [Binotto, the current team principal], for the drivers and for everyone who works there."

Ferrari's return to the top step on the podium has come with changes to Formula One regulations, which Domenicali and managing director Ross Brawn were tasked with implementing.

The 56-year-old believes technical regulations have allowed for unprecedented variety in design and engineering, which will positively impact the championship.

"The new F1 brings the technological challenge back to the centre. Last year I remember how many people said F1 would flatten out and talked about the cars all the same," he said.

"I have been in F1 since 1991 and there has never been such a great diversity between the cars, from a technical and technological point of view. This will also affect the competitiveness of the championship. There will be faster cars on some tracks and some faster cars on others."

Lewis Hamilton admitted he does not think Mercedes will be more competitive at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, but believes his podium finish in Bahrain has still boosted spirits.

Mercedes struggled with their new W13 car through much of the weekend at Sakhir, but came away with a surprise third-place finish after both Red Bulls failed in the final laps, allowing Hamilton – who had qualified fifth – to capitalise.

While Hamilton has already stated their result was "the best result we could have got" in the circumstances, the seven-time world champion doubts they will be up to the pace in Jeddah.

"No, I don't think so," he said in a news conference. "Of course we've learned a lot from this week. The car was very hard to drive but it could always be worse.

"I’m hoping for the next race we manage to find some improvements but it's a fundamental issue that's going to take a little bit longer I think to fix."

Mercedes previously considered their objective in Bahrain to be damage limitation given their disadvantage, but Hamilton agreed they had been lifted by their unexpected reward.

"I think [it is] incredibly motivating for the whole team," he added. "Everyone’s stayed positive, everyone's just kept their head down and kept working. No one moaned.

"In terms of our processes, in terms of squeezing absolutely everything out of the car, I think that's what we did today. I think that's a true showing of strength within.

"It is such a long season. It's going to be such a hard battle but we love a challenge. I really do enjoy a challenge."

Hamilton would have missed third without the double retirement that hit both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, but the seven-time world champion refused to consider it karma for last year's Abu Dhabi final.

"I don't have a response to it," he added. "I just focused on our job. Obviously it was unfortunate for them today but, yeah, I just focus on positives."

Charles Leclerc and Carlos claimed a Ferrari one-two to emerge as the early pacesetters of the season.

Formula One managing director Ross Brawn is tentatively satisfied by the racing impact of new regulations, following the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday.

Following an era dominated by the Mercedes team, significant regulation changes have been made for the 2022 season, to allow for closer racing.

Brawn, who was tasked with implementing the regulation changes by Formula One, praised the "raceability" of the current cars in comparison to previous years.

"We're delighted," Brawn told Sky Sports F1 post-race. "It is the first race so we have to be careful but all the signs are that we have moved in the direction that we wanted to move in, and the ability of the cars to race each other has improved.

"In the past we have always focused on car safety and performance. Now we should focus on raceability. That should be in there as well, because there's never been any attention paid to it."

Some of the biggest regulation changes for 2022 relate to aerodynamic output and cleaning up the turbulent wake that quickly overheated following cars in recent past, affecting the potential of wheel-to-wheel racing, despite the optimal increase in performance.

Though lap times during winter testing reflect slower overall performance, Charles Leclerc's win at Sakhir on Sunday didn't come until after a closely fought battle with reigning world champion Max Verstappen.

Brawn believes Formula One is on the path to finding balance.

"We could see from previous cars, you could simply see the downforce or the aerodynamic performance of the car that was following degrading hugely when it was behind another car," he said.

"We (Formula One) can't see the data because we're the commercial rights holder, but the FIA will now look at all the data of the cars and from that, put that into the research program to see how we can improve it further.

"I think anecdotally, you could see the cars can race a lot better."

Carlos Sainz declared Ferrari "properly back" after finishing second in a Scuderia one-two that gave Mattia Binotto sweet relief following two barren years.

Ferrari had not celebrated a race win in Formula One since Sebastian Vettel led a one-two at the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix.

Charles Leclerc was the junior driver on that occasion, but in Bahrain on Sunday he moved to the top of the drivers' standings for the first time in his career.

Leclerc was a deserving winner, while Sainz profited from a double Red Bull retirement to claim second.

"Ferrari is back and properly back with a one-two, where the team should be and should have been the last few years," Sainz said afterwards. "The hard work is paying off and we are there."

Team principal Binotto had expected Red Bull to be "stronger" and expects both they and Mercedes will "come back very soon", but for now he enjoyed being able to revel in a precious victory.

"It's a relief, it's fantastic. A one-two was unexpected," he told Sky Sports. "It has been a great race and Charles defended the position.

"It was nice to see him battling and fighting for the position, for the win.

"In the end, it was a bit lucky, certainly. It was a heart attack for me on the pit wall, when you're consolidating the position and you've got the safety car 10 laps from the end [before Verstappen retired]."

There is always expectation on Ferrari, so this result should go some way to easing the pressure very slightly.

"The pressure is high, very, very high," Binotto said, "but what we need to do is try to focus on what we are doing and forget about it; otherwise, I think it would be too much stress.

"We came here focused on the performance, trying to have a clean race. The drivers have done the job."

Christian Horner and Max Verstappen reflected on a "brutal" Bahrain Grand Prix – but one in which they saw cause for optimism.

Red Bull failed to earn a single point in the first race of the 2022 Formula One season after both defending champion Verstappen and team-mate Sergio Perez were forced to retire in the closing stages.

Verstappen had been on course for P2, while Perez was battling with Carlos Sainz to make the podium, with Ferrari instead claiming a one-two as Charles Leclerc triumphed.

Team principal Horner was still waiting to identify the exact nature of the mechanical failure that cost Red Bull, although he clarified it was unrelated to either a handling issue for Verstappen or a fire onboard Pierre Gasly's AlphaTauri.

"It was a brutal finish to that race for us," Horner told Sky Sports. "What looked like a decent haul of points suddenly evaporated in the last couple of laps.

"It looks like a similar issue on both cars. We don't know exactly what it is yet, whether it's a lift pump, whether it's a collector or something along those lines. We've got to get into it and find out exactly what's caused it."

That Red Bull were competing with pre-season pace-setters Ferrari until that point was a clear positive for Horner, however.

"Zero points for us is tough," he said. "The positives we can take is we've had a competitive car.

"We were fighting for the race win at different points of that race, and we've got to get on top of these issues quickly.

"It's a long season, 23 races, so we've got to get this behind us and get stuck into the next event."

Verstappen had been frustrated for much of his drive and was not happy with Red Bull's performance, even if he agreed there were signs they could still compete.

"It was not great today. We didn't really show what we could do, for whatever reason," he said. "There is potential, for sure, otherwise you are not up there.

"We've lost a lot of points again in one race weekend, so that's really not good. I know one retirement means it's not over, but I would prefer to have at least 18 points."

Charles Leclerc says Ferrari could not have hoped for a better start to the season after he led a one-two in the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Leclerc claimed maximum points as the Scuderia secured their first victory since the 2019 season.

The Monegasque driver took the chequered flag ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz at the Bahrain International Circuit on Sunday, with Lewis Hamilton finishing third in a miserable start to the campaign for Red Bull.

Defending champion Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez retired late in the race in Sakhir on a dream day for Leclerc.

"[I am] so happy," he said. "The last two years have been incredibly difficult for the team. We knew it would be a big opportunity for us and the guys have done such an incredible job in building this amazing car.

"Starting in the best way possible; pole position, victory, the fastest lap, one-two with Carlos - we couldn't have hoped for any better.

"I was trying to be as clever as possible, brake early in Turn One and twice, it worked out. I took back my first position, and I am incredibly happy to make it work."

Sainz was also elated to see Ferrari back in business.

"First, congrats Charles and Ferrari," he added. "Ferrari are properly back with a one-two, where the team should be. The hard work is paying off, and we are there.

"For me, it's been a very tricky weekend - I'm not going to lie. I didn’t have the pace today, but I managed to hold it and bring the one-two for the team.

"I have some homework to do over the next few days, and I'm sure I'll come back stronger."

Lewis Hamilton made the podium at the Bahrain Grand Prix only due to a double Red Bull retirement but accepted it was the best result he could have hoped for.

As Mercedes' struggles with their new W13 car continued, Hamilton was never in contention on Sunday, running in fifth for much of the race.

But issues for Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez in the Red Bulls allowed the seven-time champion to profit behind a Ferrari one-two in third.

Hamilton congratulated victor Charles Leclerc and the Scuderia – "they're such a historic, epic team, so it's great to see them up there," he said – but was also content with his own finish.

"It was such a difficult race," he explained. "We struggled throughout practice. This was really the best result we could have got.

"Obviously it was unfortunate for the other two drivers, but we did the best we could and we're grateful for these points."

Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff agreed, telling Sky Sports: "You can see how we've managed expectations.

"If we'd come in last year third and fourth, it would have been very frustrating, but this year I think we are punching above our weight class with the Red Bulls DNFing. Third and fourth is a fantastic result."

Mercedes must now turn attention to making their car competitive for the rest of the season, yet Hamilton is staying patient.

"I'm hoping [for upgrades]," Hamilton said. "I know the guys are working really hard back at the factory, but it's not going to be a quick turnaround.

"We all know as a team, we've been the best unified team for so long, we all know to keep our head down, keep working. There's a long, long way to go."