McLaren’s Oscar Piastri topped the sole practice session for this weekend’s FIA Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix finishing just under six hundredths of a second ahead of championship-leading team-mate Lando Norris, while Red Bull Racing title contender Max Verstappen ended the session in sixth place, over half a second off the McLaren pair. 

At the start of the season’s final Sprint weekend and under the lights of the high-speed Lusail circuit, the event’s single hour of practice got off to a predictably busy start, with all 20 drivers heading out early on to bank some longer running on the harder compounds on offer. 

Due to heavy wear on the tyres used last year, a 25-lap limit is being imposed on each set used this weekend, with the total counted cumulatively across the weekend. With the C1-C3 tyres on offer, most of the session was run on the hardest C1 tyres.

It was Mercedes' George Russell who led the early running with Verstappen holding P2. The the Dutchman was unhappy with the balance of his car, which he said was “jumping a lot”. He would also later complain about power unit clipping in Turn 6, which he said was a “disaster” and made it “impossible to get a good exit”. 

Despite the balance issues, Verstappen moved to the top of the timesheet at the 20-minute mark, posting a time of 1:22.165 to annex P1. It would remain as the best time right up until the final 10 minutes when a flurry of qualifying simulations on the C3 Soft lowered the benchmark. 

Norris, who will seal his maiden world title if he wins the grand prix on Sunday, jumped to the top of the timesheet with a lap of 1:20.982s, three tenths clear of Piastri's best to that point. 

The championship leader was on course to beat his own time with a second flyer but he before aborted the lap and that allowed Piastri claim P1 with a lap of 1:20.924s, 0.058s ahead of his team-mate. 

Behind the McLaren pair, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso took third place at a track at which he scored a drought-ending podium with Alpine in 2021. The Spanish driver finished FP1 0.386 off Piastri and a little under a tenth of a second ahead of Williams’s Carlos Sainz. Isack Hadjar took his Racing Bull VCARB 02 to fifth place with a lap of 1:21.503 and that was good enough to drop Verstappen for sixth, with the defending champion 0.580s off top spot. 

Alex Albon was seventh in the second Williams ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, the second Aston Martin of Lance Stroll and Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, who completed the top 10 order.

2025 FIA Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix – Free Practice 
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:20.924 29 241.070
2 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:20.982 0.058 28 240.897
3 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:21.310 0.386 26 239.926
4 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:21.404 0.480 20 239.649
5 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:21.503 0.579 30 239.358
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:21.504 0.580 27 239.355
7 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:21.609 0.685 29 239.047
8 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:21.668 0.744 31 238.874
9 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:21.669 0.745 26 238.871
10 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:21.698 0.774 32 238.786
11 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:21.783 0.859 23 238.538
12 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:21.794 0.870 28 238.506
13 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:21.796 0.872 28 238.500
14 George Russell Mercedes 1:21.824 0.900 33 238.419
15 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:21.926 1.002 26 238.122
16 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:21.926 1.002 29 238.122
17 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:22.096 1.172 30 237.629
18 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:22.424 1.500 25 236.683
19 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:22.562 1.638 30 236.287
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine/Renault 1:23.529 2.605 26 233.552