QATAR GP – Oscar Piastri leads a McLaren one-two in practice, going just under six hundredths faster than Lando Norris
Oscar Piastri led a McLaren one-two in practice for the Qatar Grand Prix, the Australian set a 22.324 going just under six hundredths faster than his teammate Lando Norris. Piastri looked to be comfortable as he tries to stall his teammates’ charge to the championship, though the track temperatures dropped going into sprint qualifying this evening.
Piastri set his fastest time in the final moments of the session as the last rays of sun shone in Lusail. On his second soft run, he went half a tenth faster. The McLaren duo was comfortably fastest as Norris was over three tenths ahead of Fernando Alonso, who put his Aston Martin third.
The McLarens were only dominant on the soft tyres as Norris and Piastri showed little pace on the hards. However, they are seemingly favourites if their one-lap speed is anything to go by, as Piastri went quicker on his second push lap. But many appeared to be struggling with the combination of breezy conditions and a lack of grip on the smooth track.
Though it was as low-key session with minor errors for the suspected champion-elect, Norris has the habit of ironing out those errors when it comes to a session which matters. Norris will become champion if he outscores Piastri and Max Verstappen by two points this weekend, meaning he must win the Grand Prix and finish eighth or higher in the sprint.
Alonso was just under a tenth faster than his fellow Spaniard Carlos Sainz, ahead of the promotion of Adrian Newey to Aston Martin CEO and team principal. However, the usual hour of practice on a sprint weekend proved busy as teams mixed qualifying and race simulations. But Aston Martin’s pace has always tended to fade through the weekend this season.
Isack Hadjar put his Racing Bull fifth, going nearly six tenths faster than Max Verstappen, the four-time champion who won this race a year ago, looked once again to be uncomfortable with the drivability of his Red Bull. That could be a major blow to the Dutchman’s slim chances of causing a big upset and stanching the championship away from Norris.
Verstappen’s problems included gear changes, damping and clipping – running out of electrical energy. Lusail was always expected to be more of a difficult circuit as the Red Bull lacks the straight-line speed compared to the McLaren, but he did bounce back to win this race a year ago
Alex Albon put his Williams seventh ahead of Charles Leclerc by six hundredths, a combination of wind and the lack of grip. Lance Stroll put his Aston Martin ninth; he was just a thousandth behind the Ferrari as he went three hundredths ahead of Kimi Antonelli. The top ten covered by three-quarters of a second.
Nico Hulkenberg put his Sauber eleventh, the German missing out on the top ten by just under a hundredth, as he went a hundredth ahead of Lewis Hamilton. Ferrari looked to be uncomfortable around the high-speed and downforce Lusail circuit.
Hamilton was two thousandths ahead of Yuki Tsunoda while his former teammate George Russell was three hundredths further behind. Ollie Bearman completed the English trio as he put his Haas a tenth behind Russell, and was the first driver to lap a second off the pace set by Piastri.
Based on FP1, the cut off for SQ3 would have been 21.783, and for SQ2 a 21.926; both of the drivers who would have missed out were three hundredths off. Bortoleto was sixteenth after setting an identical time as Bearman, which put them nearly a tenth and three quarters ahead of Bearman’s Haas teammate Esteban Ocon.
Ocon was three-tenths ahead of his former Alpine teammate Pierre Gasly. Gasly going over a tenth and a quarter faster than Liam Lawson, the Racing Bull managing to split the two Alpine’s after going nearly a second ahead of Franco Colapinto.