FP1: Leclerc leads Norris and Piastri during Qatar GP practice

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc topped the timesheets during Friday’s sole practice session at the Qatar Grand Prix, comfortably leading the way from McLaren rivals Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri and team mate Carlos Sainz – as their fight for the constructors’ title heats up.

With the Sprint format in play for the sixth and final team this season, FP1 took on greater importance than usual as drivers attempted to dial their cars in at the Lusail International Circuit – amid much cooler conditions than those experienced last year.

A busy start to the 60-minute session saw most drivers promptly head out on track and rack up mileage with Pirelli’s hard and medium compound tyres, bringing plenty of radio complaints over traffic and change after change a the top of the leaderboard.

One third of the way in, it was Leclerc who held P1 with a 1m 23.702s on hards, a couple of tenths clear of Max Verstappen and Pierre Gasly, as Norris, Sainz and Las Vegas Grand Prix winner George Russell rounded out the top six.

Norris went for another run on mediums a little later and looked set to go quickest, only for a slide at Turn 10 to scupper his efforts, while team mate Piastri had a moment of his own at Turn 15 – Ferrari then moving further clear through gains from Leclerc and Sainz.

With just over 10 minutes to go, the soft tyres finally appeared, leading to another flurry of improvements through to the chequered flag – Leclerc ultimately coming out on top by some four-tenths over Norris and Piastri via a 1m 21.953s.

Sainz was next up in P4, around half a second away from team mate Leclerc, while Yuki Tsunoda, Valtteri Bottas and Lance Stroll put their respective RB, Kick Sauber and Aston Martin machines firmly inside the top seven with particularly late efforts.

Russell ended up eighth, one spot ahead of Alex Albon’s Williams and the other Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton in 10th, who reported balance issues early in the session. Red Bull driver and newly-confirmed 2024 champion Verstappen started his weekend in 11th position.

Fernando Alonso placed 12th in the second of the Aston Martin machines, followed by Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg, Liam Lawson’s RB and Gasly, who dropped all the way down to 15th given that his best time came on medium tyres, rather than the softs.

Kevin Magnussen was 16th in his Haas, as Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu, Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, Williams’s Franco Colapinto and Esteban Ocon (who, like team mate Gasly, did not post a soft-shod effort) completed the field.

Drivers and teams will now have an opportunity to dig through the data in the paddock and make any set-up changes before Sprint Qualifying, which is set to get under way at 2030 local time.