Formula 1 | Qatar, Free: Leclerc ahead of McLaren F1 drivers

The Qatar F1 Grand Prix began at Losail with Free Practice, the only session before the Sprint Qualification in the evening. A session during which the teams had to work on long stints, but also on the ability of the cars to drive quickly over a lap.

Only two teams are making changes this weekend. Alpine F1 has a new front wing, which sits on a shortened nose. On the Stake F1 side, a revised front wing for the Losail race is also available.

Note that Franco Colapinto has an old suspension specification at Williams after his accident in Las Vegas. The Grove team is lacking parts at the end of the season and is drawing from its stocks so as not to waste time on the development of the 2025 season.

After several insignificant times, Max Verstappen took the lead in 1'26″388. Valtteri Bottas was in the process of improving Verstappen's time but he was hampered in the last sector. Yuki Tsunoda improved by 1' 25″970.

Verstappen responded and took the best time in 1'25″612, while Sergio Pérez moved up to third. Carlos Sainz moved up to second, and Charles Leclerc set the best time in 1'25″486.

Pierre Gasly confirmed his good form by placing himself among the best, in third position. However, the times were clearly improving everywhere, and George Russell jumped to the lead in 1'24″901.

Esteban Ocon placed fifth just behind Gasly, and Lando Norris set the second time, 0.076 behind Russell. Bottas finished a fast lap in fourth position.

Note that the Ferrari drivers were on hard tires, just like the Williams drivers. Alex Albon also moved up to sixth place with these tires. Gasly improved to 1'24″819, which sent him to the top of the standings. Verstappen signaled the end of the break with a better time of almost a second, in 1'23″885.

Russell came back to less than four tenths, and Norris to less than two tenths. Leclerc finally beat Verstappen's time in 1'23″702. Gasly moved back into the top 3 thanks to an improvement in his time.

After mid-session, Sainz managed to move back into second position on hard tires, a sign that Ferrari had performance. The Williams drivers were the first to put on the soft tires at the end of the session.

Franco Colapinto missed out and remained 19th, while Alex Albon moved up to third. Guanyu Zhou climbed to 17th place with the same tires, which the leaders put on.

Fernando Alonso moved up to fourth ahead of Nico Hülkenberg, Lance Stroll took third place, and Leclerc set the best time in 1'22″242. Yuki Tsunoda moved up to seventh, and Verstappen improved but did not progress in the standings On soft tires, Sergio Pérez did not do better than 12th.

Piastri then Norris took second position, while Nico Hülkenberg made a mistake by going slightly too wide on a curb. Piastri did the same on his fast lap, and so did Verstappen.

Leclerc improved his time to 1'21″953, and Hülkenberg moved up to 11th place. Sainz missed out slightly but still progressed, but did not gain any position. Tsunoda moved up to fifth place.

Bottas signed the best second sector and placed sixth. Kevin Magnussen also progressed but did not do better than 16th, ahead of Zhou and Pérez. Piastri made another mistake on his last lap.

Leclerc finished first ahead of the McLarens of Norris and Piastri, then Sainz. The fight is well underway between the two teams for the manufacturers' championship! Tsunoda follows ahead of Bottas who is sixth, Stroll, Russell, Albon and Hamilton, while the Red Bulls are far behind, with Verstappen 12th and Pérez 18th.