The first stage of the Qatar Grand Prix sprint weekend, and the only free practice session, began under electric lights, with Charles Leclerc proving to be the fastest.
A setting sun, strong crosswinds, and lots of mistakes characterized the first third of the opening practice session, which was “dominated” by Red Bull Racing. The big challenger McLaren, on the other hand, seemed quite unstable, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both badly damaging their floorboards, and Sergio Perez was similarly affected. Meanwhile, Scuderia Ferrari slowly began to develop and, switching from medium compounds to soft ones, took the lead. Here, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc set reference times, with the latter finally finishing the session in the lead. The seemingly unstable McLaren duo, led by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, can look forward to the upcoming sprint qualification from second and third places.
