P1racenews AI automatic summary:
Oscar Piastri led his championship-leading McLaren team-mate Lando Norris in the sole practice session at Formula 1’s Qatar Grand Prix
Oscar Piastri outperformed his McLaren teammate Lando Norris in the sole practice session at the Qatar Grand Prix, solidifying his championship lead. Initially, both drivers were in the middle of the timesheets on hard tires, but they emerged as the frontrunners when they switched to soft tires for the final 10 minutes. Piastri’s impressive drive saw him improve his time by 0.058 seconds over Norris, securing the fastest lap time of 1m20.924s. Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin followed close behind in third place, just under four tenths slower than Piastri. Notably, Max Verstappen struggled with energy recovery timing issues and finished in sixth place, 0.580s behind the leading McLaren. This practice session was crucial as it preceded the sprint qualifying event scheduled for the following day.
