QATAR GP – Charles Leclerc ahead of both McLarens by four-tenths in practice
Charles Leclerc was fastest in practice for the Qatar Grand Prix the Ferrari driver set a 21.965 to put himself just over four tenths faster than the McLaren’s of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. The two leading teams were comfortably quickest though Leclerc set his fastest time on the soft tyre while the McLaren was on the slower medium, though Norris was nearly half a tenth faster than Piastri.
Most of the real competitive times came in the final fifteen minutes of the session as many used the majority of the session on the race runs. The Ferrari and McLaren rose to the top of the times in the final runs of the session. Piastri was under two-tenths slower, although Norris found half a tenth on his team-mate to slot into second place.
Ferrari and McLaren go into the final ten days of the season looking to end their longest waits for the constructors in their respective histories. Piastri put his McLaren just over a tenth faster than Carlos Sainz who was almost half a second faster than the RB of Yuki Tsunoda. Unlike most night/twilight races the session took place at sunset making it more reprehensive for the weekend.
McLaren on paper should favour Lusail, but Ferrari was quick straight out of the blocks, though, as they were first and second on the hards, over six-tenths clear of Norris in third, who was on the mediums. Red Bull were over a second off which is a massive gap given how tight the field has been through the second half of 2024.
Tsunoda was just over a hundredth faster than Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll, in what was a largely trouble-free session. Bottas will be hoping the pace continues for the rest of the weekend so Sauber doesn’t finish the season pointless.
Several drivers kicked up dust as they looked to find the limits of the track, with no yellow flags during the weekend’s only practice session going into sprint qualifying. Stroll was seven hundredths faster than George Russell’s Mercedes.
Alex Albon put his Williams ninth as he spilt the Mercedes, the British-Thai driver was just a thousandth behind Vegas winner Russell and ahead of seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton by just under three-tenths. However, as the temperature continues to drop and teams show true colours in sprint qualifying the times will close further.
Mercedes was expected to be strong for the second weekend running after their surprise one-two last time out in Las Vegas, but Hamilton and Russell appeared to be lacking outright speed in the high-speed corners. Hamilton complained about the balance of his car.
Max Verstappen missed out on the top ten by going a quarter of a tenth behind Hamilton, the new four-time champion ran wide on what would have been his fastest lap. But that was the theme of the session several drivers went off wrecking their laps, though all the drivers struggled with traffic but kept their cars out of the barriers.
Verstappen was nearly a hundredth and a half faster than Fernando Alonso after the brush with the gravel. Nico Hulkenberg was thirteenth going three hundredths faster than Liam Lawson, Pierre Gasly and Haas teammate Kevin Magnussen. But Gasly and Esteban Ocon didn’t manage to post a time on the soft tyre.
Guanyu Zhou was over a tenth ahead of Sergio Perez, and Franco Colapinto with Ocon completing the field.