McLaren’s Lando Norris set blistering pace to top the only practice session of Formula 1’s first Sprint weekend of the season beating Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by almost half a second as the action got underway in Shanghai for the 2025 FIA Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix.
Third place in the session went to Norris’ team-mate Oscar Piastri, while defending champion Max Verstappen finished 16th after abandoning his Soft tyre run late in the session.
On a newly resurfaced, grippy track and in warm temperatures, times were quick from the start of the session with Norris setting an early benchmark of 1:33.362 quicker than Max Verstappen’s pole lap from 2024.
That marker was swiftly surpassed by Piastri and then by Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton who dropped the benchmark to 1:33.224. Leclerc and Mercedes’ George Russell then traded times with the Briton coming out on top with a time of 1:32.377 as the session hit the one-third mark.
Piastri then popped up with a solid lap just after the halfway point to split the Ferraris and take third place, while Leclerc had a moment at Turn 2 as he suffered a wind-induced snap and spun his SF-25, though without any real drama.
But while Leclerc was able to carry on his way, at Turn 9 Jack Doohan was grinding to a halt. Reporting that he had lost power steering and that the car had shut down he trundled into a run-off and eventually climbed out of his Alpine A525. The red flags came out while his care was recovered and driver peeled into the pit lane to wait it out and bolt on a set of Soft tyres for qualifying simulations.
Leclerc initially took top spot on the red-banded tyre with a 1:32.103, while Norris made a small mistake in Turn 8 and ended marginally off the Ferrari. He was told by engineer Will Joseph that there was an opportunity at the corner and exploiting it Norris went quickest overall with a 1:31.504 that stood until the end of the session.
That left Leclerc 0.454 seconds adrift in second place. Piastri might have dropped the Ferrari driver to third by a mistake in the final corner cost the Australian dearly and he ended the session almost seven tenths off his team-mate.
Lewis Hamilton was fourth for Ferrari, while Russell took fifth for Mercedes ahead of Sauber’s Nico Hülkenberg and the Williams of Alex Albon. Fernando Alonso was eighth for Aston Martin ahead of Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes and the top 10 order was completed by Yuki Tsunoda for Racing Bulls.
Max Verstappen set his fastest time of the session on the Medium tyre and ended finished 16th after abandoning his Soft tyre run midway through the lap.
2025 FIA Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix – Free Practice
1 Lando Norris McLaren/Mercedes 1:31.504 23 214.456
2 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:31.958 0.454 21 213.397
3 Oscar Piastri McLaren/Mercedes 1:32.153 0.649 24 212.945
4 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:32.195 0.691 22 212.848
5 George Russell Mercedes 1:32.377 0.873 26 212.429
6 Nico Hülkenberg Sauber/Ferrari 1:32.507 1.003 21 212.130
7 Alexander Albon Williams/Mercedes 1:32.687 1.183 24 211.719
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:32.766 1.262 23 211.538
9 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:32.874 1.370 27 211.292
10 Yuki Tsunoda Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:32.934 1.430 23 211.156
11 Oliver Bearman Haas/Ferrari 1:32.967 1.463 23 211.081
12 Lance Stroll Aston Martin/Mercedes 1:32.984 1.480 19 211.042
13 Esteban Ocon Haas/Ferrari 1:33.056 1.552 23 210.879
14 Pierre Gasly Alpine/Renault 1:33.123 1.619 23 210.727
15 Carlos Sainz Williams/Mercedes 1:33.145 1.641 26 210.677
16 Max Verstappen Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:33.284 1.780 24 210.364
17 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls/Honda RBPT 1:33.385 1.881 23 210.136
18 Liam Lawson Red Bull/Honda RBPT 1:33.631 2.127 23 209.584
19 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber/Ferrari 1:33.822 2.318 24 209.157
20 Jack Doohan Alpine/Renault 1:33.923 2.419 17 208.932
FIA Formula One World Championship
F1SEASON 2025SportCircuit1SportFIA Formula One World ChampionshipCircuitSEASON 2025F101Friday, March 21, 2025 – 6:42amFriday, March 21, 2025 – 6:42am
Source : Fia
