Oscar Piastri set the pace late on in the only practice session for the Qatar Grand Prix, beating his team mate Lando Norris and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso to the top spot.
The Sprint is making its final appearance of the season in Qatar, giving the drivers just one hour of practice to hone their performance and find the best set-up ahead of a crucial Sprint Qualifying under the lights.
With the sun setting at the Lusail International Circuit, a queue of cars – all on the hard compound tyres – were ready to go at 1630 local time for the first on-track action of the weekend.
George Russell and Max Verstappen both found themselves momentarily at the top of the timesheets in the opening 10 minutes, but Kick Sauber veteran Nico Hulkenberg set multiple purple sectors to easily displace the frontrunners.
The Dutchman, who finds himself just 24 points behind Standings leader Norris, then charged eight tenths clear with a time of 1m 23.343s before reporting early issues with his front left tyre.
Verstappen’s struggles didn’t end there as he claimed he had trouble with his steering, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc echoing the complaint while down in P15. He improved to sixth, knocking the Red Bull into P7 as a flying Kimi Antonelli set the fastest time of the session.
The majority of drivers were eager to rack up as many laps as possible, but with over a third of the session gone, Norris found himself at the bottom of the pile in terms of both lap count and time. After adjusting his set-up back in the garage, his first attempt to set a faster lap saw him drive wide, kicking up dust and leaving him P20.
Around the halfway point, the track quietened down as teams called their drivers back into the pits, with Russell firmly in P1 with an advantage of two tenths over Verstappen. Meanwhile, Leclerc once again jumped on the radio to relay another issue with the balance of his Ferrari as he lingered just over a second adrift of the Mercedes.
Norris gradually began to set slightly more representative times, but both McLarens were significantly off the pace, with Oscar Piastri in ninth ahead of his teammate in P11. They weren’t the only ones struggling to get on top of the tricky combination of breezy conditions and a lack of grip on the smooth track.
While learning about performance on the hard tyres was clearly the main order of the day, Hadjar was one of the first to make the switch to soft tyres with 10 minutes remaining, rapidly dialling them in to shoot to first place.
Plenty of improvements followed as a host of drivers exchanged the fastest lap time and McLaren finally found their pace, with Norris claiming P1 ahead of Piastri. The Australian came back with a few minutes to go, but only 0.058s separated him from his team mate as he finished with a time of 1m 20.294s.
Alonso was third for Aston Martin ahead of Carlos Sainz and Hadjar, with Verstappen ending the session down in P6. Just behind, Alex Albon headed Leclerc and Lance Stroll as Antonelli rounded out the top 10.
Teams now have just a handful of hours to refine their set-ups before the drivers return to the track at 2030 local time for Sprint Qualifying.
