Max Verstappen set the fastest time in Friday’s first and only practice session in Qatar, the Red Bull driver preceding Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz by 0.334s, with Charles Leclerc clocking in third 0.481d behind.
It was an incident-free session despite drivers struggling with Lusail’s new tarmac. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso was fourth in the pecking order, just ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.
George Russell was the sole Mercedes representative among the top 10 while the McLaren duo of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris who never got around to running the soft tyre rounded off the top ten.
A major talking point ahead of this weekend’s round of racing at Lusail – which was last visited by F1 in 2021 – was track evolution, with Friday’s hot daylight practice followed by this evening’s cooler qualifying.
Furthermore, a fully resurfaced track and the absence of support categories to rubber in the circuit – not to mention the howling wind and sand blowing in from inland - were also big factors to consider.
But a priority for all teams was to put as much mileage as possible under their belt in FP1, the single practice session of the weekend.
Traffic predictably swelled at the outset, while the extremely slippery track prompted Carlos Sainz Jr to say that his legendary father “would do well in these conditions”, especially as the hard tyre was the rubber of choice for the majority of the field at the start of the session.
Changes at the top of the time sheet were as frequent as they were irrelevant during the opening minutes but as everyone adapted to the conditions, Russell set a benchmark of 1m31.279s.
But The Briton’s time was quickly bettered by Hamilton, with Sainz and Leclerc completing the top four.
Twenty minutes in, Russell recouped the top spot while Alonso slotted into second. But Verstappen then leapfrogged the Aston Martin F1 veteran while Norris crept into the top three.
Alonso pressed on however and set a new benchmark at 1m28.264s, the Spaniard edging Leclerc, Verstappen, Russell and Norris.
Meanwhile, several frontrunners frequently continued to run wide – especially at Lusail’s Turn 4, an indication that grip remained at a premium beyond a certain limit.
With 25 minutes left on the clock, a solid flyer by Piastri on the hard rubber propelled the Aussie to the front by 0.244s. That gap was immediately compressed to 0.061s by Norris in second place.
But as the session entered its final 15 minutes, a medium-shod Leclerc shaved half a second off his best lap to go fastest.
Qualifying simulations were in order in the closing minutes of the session, and Verstappen, running on the soft compound, unsurprisingly came out on top.
The Red Bull charger outpaced both Ferraris, with Sainz just edging Leclerc, with Alonso and Perez completing the top five.
AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda was sixth, just ahead of Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg, while Russell was the first of the Mercedes drivers in P8, the Briton preceding Piastri and Norris. It was worth noting that the last three never ran the soft tyre in the session.
Further down the order, Logan Sargeant enjoyed a productive outing, the American setting a faster lap than Alex Albon. Hamilton clocked in P13, ahead of Lance Stroll and the lagging Alpine duo of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.
Finally, Alfa’s Bottas and Zhou, and Lawson and Magnussen closed out the field.
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