2025 Qatar GP FP1: Piastri Fastest From Norris in First Practice

Oscar Piastri lit up Lusail under the fading desert light, edging teammate Lando Norris to finish fastest in the sole practice session for the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix — the final Sprint weekend of the 2025 F1 World Championship. It was a late surge from McLaren after a muted start, the team struggling for grip on the hard compound before switching on the speed when it mattered most. Just 0.058s ultimately split their orange front-running pair, with Fernando Alonso placing Aston Martin third as the field got just one hour to prepare for Sprint Qualifying later tonight.

With the Sprint making its last appearance of the season, Friday opened with urgency rather than warm-up. Cars queued at pit exit for the 16:30 local-time green light, all shod on the hardest tyres available — no luxury of steady build-up, no time for hesitation. Early benchmark laps changed hands rapidly: George Russell, then Max Verstappen, before Kick Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg stormed through with purple sectors to stamp down the first serious marker. The stopwatch reshuffled constantly, but control was temporary for anyone who tried to hold it.

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For Verstappen — the man just 24 points behind championship leader Norris — the session was lively, but not clean. After momentarily stretching eight tenths clear with a 1:23.343, he radioed concerns over his front-left tyre, then later over his steering. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc echoed similar complaints, hovering down in P15 at the time before improving to sixth — enough to bump Verstappen into P7 as teenage talent Kimi Antonelli briefly stunned the paddock by going fastest.

Mileage was priority one for almost everyone, but McLaren’s progress was slow. Norris, at one stage lowest in both lap count and speed, returned from a long garage adjustment only to run wide and spray dust onto the exit kerb — P20 the result. As half-distance approached, the circuit fell quiet and the times plateaued, Russell holding P1 by two tenths over Verstappen while Leclerc again complained of imbalance as the Ferrari sat over a second away from the benchmark Mercedes.

The closing phase flipped the session on its head. The breeze lingered, grip remained thin, and neither McLaren looked remotely threatening — until the tyres softened. Isack Hadjar was the first to bolt on the red-banded rubber with 10 minutes left, and the rookie wasted none of it, firing himself to P1 with instant confidence. That triggered the switch: more softs appeared, the timing board lit up in green, and suddenly Norris and Piastri were alive.

Norris grabbed P1, Piastri stole it, then Norris returned fire — until the Australian delivered one final push. His 1:20.924 stood as the fastest of the hour, just shy of Norris but decisive enough to put McLaren one-two as the chequered flag fell. Alonso’s assured run earned him third, Sainz fourth, Hadjar fifth, and Verstappen — wrestling with a difficult Red Bull — settled for sixth. Alex Albon slotted in behind, followed by Leclerc and Lance Stroll, while Antonelli rounded out the top 10 after his early heroics.

2025 Qatar GP FP1 Results

2025 Qatar Grand Prix FP1, 28 November 2025