FP1: Norris leads Leclerc and Piastri during sole Chinese Grand Prix practice session

Lando Norris set the pace during Friday’s sole practice session at the Chinese Grand Prix, the McLaren driver topping the timesheets ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and team mate Oscar Piastri.

Just days on from the season opener in Australia, the Sprint format is in effect for the first time during the campaign in Shanghai, meaning that Free Practice 1 (FP1) offered a crucial opportunity for the drivers and teams to dial their cars in and prepare for Sprint Qualifying later in the day.

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As such, it was a busy start as Ollie Bearman led out a queue of cars – all sporting the medium tyres – when the session began at 1130 local time, the Haas driver amongst the rookies looking to bounce back from a tough outing last week in Melbourne.

There were early excursions into the gravel for Red Bull’s Liam Lawson and the Williams of Alex Albon in the opening moments, with the latter going on to report “something loose” around the pedals of his FW47.

With the Shanghai International Circuit having been resurfaced since F1’s last visit, the track looked to be offering plenty of grip as the times dropped. Lewis Hamilton set the early pace in the first quarter – despite a slide through the hairpin on his previous lap – before being displaced by former Mercedes team mate George Russell.

The picture continued to change as the track evolved further, with Russell having worked his way down to a pace-setting 1m 32.377s by the halfway point – half a second up on nearest challenger Leclerc and over a second quicker than last year’s pole position time.

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There were some issues for some during the second half of the session; Leclerc experienced a spin through Turn 3, while Ferrari team mate Hamilton unwittingly gave a nod to his 2007 pit lane excursion when he went slightly wide on his way to the pits.

The red flag was then thrown when Jack Doohan pulled off track after reporting an issue with the power steering in his Alpine, prompting a flurry of action as the green light arrived with only seven minutes remaining. A queue of cars had formed in the pit lane, the majority keen to get a soft tyre run on the board.

After those times came in, Leclerc looked to have set the pace before Norris surged into P1 with a lap of 1m 31.504, four-tenths clear of Leclerc’s previous benchmark. Piastri, meanwhile, slotted into third after going wide at the final corner on his effort.

Hamilton took fourth place ahead of Russell, while Nico Hulkenberg was an eye-catching sixth for Kick Sauber. Albon followed in seventh, with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli and the Racing Bulls of Yuki Tsunoda completing the top 10.

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Bearman, Lance Stroll in the Aston Martin, Haas’ Esteban Ocon, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and the Williams of Sainz took 11th through to 15th respectively, while Max Verstappen was down in 16th for Red Bull having aborted his lap on the soft tyres, meaning that he did not get a representative effort on the board.

Behind the Dutchman was Racing Bulls’ Isack Hadjar, Lawson in the Red Bull, the Kick Sauber of Gabriel Bortoleto and Doohan, who was unable to rejoin following his car issues.

With the weekend’s only practice session now complete, the drivers and teams will have a brief opportunity to assess their data before turning their attentions to Sprint Qualifying, which is scheduled to get underway at 1530 local time.