Qatar Grand Prix – FP1: The Ferraris make a strong impression
The drivers completed their first hour of track time of the weekend in Qatar with the best time from Charles Leclerc, who showed very good pace for Ferrari.
Ferraris shine in the Qatar night. Charles Leclerc set the fastest time of the free practice session ahead of the McLarens and Carlos Sainz. The Scuderia drivers were impressive throughout the session, setting the best times quickly on hard tires, while the rest of the field (with the exception of Williams) was on mediums.
Leclerc and Sainz switched to the yellow tires midway through the session to continue improving their times. Lando Norris and Max Verstappen also showed interesting pace at times, as did Pierre Gasly, who was in 4th place until the final minutes.
Pierre Gasly interesting on mediums.
The end of the session was reserved for the switch to soft tires, where once again, the Ferraris dominated. Charles Leclerc finally outpaced Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, while his teammate Carlos Sainz completed the top 4. Max Verstappen settled for the 11th time, behind the Mercedes, while Sergio Perez is 17th…
Have the Alpines dropped in the rankings, but they are the only cars that have not used soft tires.
The classification of Free Practice of the Qatar Grand Prix
| N° | Driver | Team | Times | Gap | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Leclerc | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:21.953 | 28 | |
| 2 | Norris | McLaren F1 Team | 1:22.378 | +0.425 | 22 |
| 3 | Piastri | McLaren F1 Team | 1:22.425 | +0.472 | 23 |
| 4 | Sainz | Scuderia Ferrari | 1:22.982 | +1.029 | 27 |
| 5 | Tsunoda | Visa Cash App RB F1 Team | 1:23.045 | +1.092 | 26 |
| 6 | Bottas | Stake F1 Team | 1:23.064 | +1.111 | 28 |
| 7 | Stroll | Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team | 1:23.099 | +1.146 | 23 |
| 8 | Russell | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport | 1:23.160 | +1.207 | 26 |
| 9 | Albon | Williams Racing | 1:23.161 | +1.208 | 28 |
| 10 | Hamilton | Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport | 1:23.188 | +1.235 | 25 |
| 11 | Verstappen | Oracle Red Bull Racing | 1:23.213 | +1.260 | 26 |
| 12 | Alonso | Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team | 1:23.228 | +1.275 | 24 |
| 13 | Hülkenberg | MoneyGram Haas F1 Team | 1:23.245 | +1.292 | 27 |
| 14 | Lawson | Visa Cash App RB F1 Team | 1:23.562 | +1.609 | 29 |
| 15 | Gasly | BWT Alpine F1 Team | 1:23.620 | +1.667 | 28 |
| 16 | Magnussen | MoneyGram Haas F1 Team | 1:23.715 | +1.762 | 27 |
| 17 | Guanyu | Stake F1 Team | 1:23.880 | +1.927 | 27 |
| 18 | Perez | Oracle Red Bull Racing | 1:24.039 | +2.086 | 26 |
| 19 | Colapinto | Williams Racing | 1:24.280 | +2.327 | 28 |
| 20 | Ocon | BWT Alpine F1 Team | 1:24.280 | +2.327 | 21 |
