Oscar Piastri has topped the only free practice session ahead of this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix. After seizing the early initiative and later losing out to his teammate, a late surge yielded a time of 1m20.294s, which put him just over half a tenth clear of Lando Norris. Piastri comes to Qatar in desperate need of a good result. With 24 points separating him and Norris, Piastri will have to outscore his teammate in order to keep his shaky title hopes alive. Having failed to make the podium in any of the last six grand prix, Piastri will be looking to turn things around this weekend.
Lando Norris struggled in the early part of the session; after failing to set a representative time during the opening exchanges, the championship leader came into the pits for setup changes. Upon rejoining, Norris suffered a wayward moment that further hindered his progress. However, as the track improved towards the end of free practice, Norris was able to find his form. He may have been outdone by his teammate, but his times seem to have set the foundations of a strong weekend.
With 24 points in hand, Norris has the opportunity to wrap up the title this weekend. Outscoring Piastri and Max Verstappen by two points will be enough for the Brit to secure his maiden drivers’ crown.
By contrast, Verstappen comes to Qatar as the rank outsider. He may have benefitted from McLaren’s shock double disqualification last time out in Las Vegas to draw level with Piastri in the standings, but should he concede more than a single point to Norris over the course of this sprint weekend, Verstappen’s title hopes will come to an end. The reigning world champion had an uneven free practice as he complained of steering issues as well as a problem with his left front tyre. He may have initially topped the timesheets, but with the late flurry of fastest laps having mixed up the order, Verstappen ended the session sixth, over half a second off the McLarens.
Fernando Alonso took third in the dying stages of the session. the Spaniard has been a vical critic of this generation of F1 car and has said he will “treat these last two races as celebratory races” as this is the last year of thw current regulations cycle. Carlos Sainz ended the session fourth ahead of Isack Hadjar, who was the first driver to switch from hard to soft tyres and briefly went fastest with less than ten minutes remaining.
Alex Albon recorded the seventh fastest time, while Charles Leclerc struggled with balance and steering issues en route to eighth. Lance Stroll underlined Aston Martin’s initial pace by taking ninth ahead of Kimi Antonelli, Nico Hulkenberg, Lewis Hamilton and Yuki Tsunoda.
George Russell traded fastest times with Verstappen during his initial runs but eventually had to settle for 14th. Russell has form in Qatar, having taken pole last year and completed a commendable recovery drive to fourth after a first corner tangle in 2023. With all the attention on Verstappen and the McLarens, Russell could upset the established order this weekend.
Oliver Bearman went 15th fastest ahead of Pierre Gasly, Liam Lawson and Franco Colapinto.
McLaren took a knock in Las Vegas; however, if their free practice pace is anything to go by, Norris and Piastri appear to have the car of choice in Qatar. A race that could see the crowning of a new world champion.
