Charles Leclerc beat Lando Norris to top spot in an intriguing practice hour at the Qatar Grand Prix.
The sole practice session got underway at sunset in Lusail, with Ferrari tipped to struggle relative to the other top teams around the circuit’s high-speed swoops after the Italian team opted to run an alternative program: Whereas the bulk of the field burned up a set of medium tires to simulate race pace, both Ferrari drivers used up on of their two sets of hard tires in a competitive stint that saw Carlos Sainz and Leclerc top the order.
The switch to soft tires in the final 10 minutes revealed that pace to be genuine, at least in practice trim. Leclerc set two flying laps good enough for top spot, finding enough grip on the evolving circuit to put himself 0.136s and then a whopping 0.435s ahead of McLaren’s Norris by the end of the session, including the fastest time in the final sector.
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Norris was fastest in the first sector, but by less than 0.1s, and he shipped significant time to the scarlet car around the rest of the lap. However, he set only one flying lap on the soft rubber before switching back to mediums to conclude the hour.
Norris was shadowed closely by teammate Oscar Piastri, who was just 0.047s further back despite losing time dropping two wheels into the gravel at Turn 6. Both McLaren drivers struggled throughout the session to keep their cars on track on a windy evening on the Persian Gulf.
Sainz complete the top four, though he was 0.582s slower than his teammate after his two flying laps. McLaren leads Ferrari by 24 points at the top of the constructors’ championship.
There was a big gap behind the top two teams, with Yuki Tsunoda 1.092s off the pace in fifth for RB ahead of a surprise top-six inclusion for Stake Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas, who ended the hour with the fastest time in the middle sector on a lap after the checkered flag. He displaced Lance Stroll, George Russell, Alex Albon and Lewis Hamilton to the bottom of the top 10.
Max Verstappen was 0.025s outside the top 10 despite getting in a clean lap on softs. He was only 0.014s quicker faster than Fernando Alonso, with Nico Hulkenberg completing a tightly packed nine-car group by being just 0.2s slower than Tsunoda.
Liam Lawson was 14th ahead of Pierre Gasly, the Alpine driver setting his quickest lap on medium tires, Kevin Magnussen, Zhou Guanyu and Sergio Perez, who was 2.086s off the pace and 0.826s slower than Verstappen.
Franco Colapinto was 19th ahead of Esteban Ocon, who also set his fastest lap on mediums after having lost around half the session in his garage with a mechanical problem at the front of his car.
