Oscar Piastri surpassed championship leader Lando Norris in practice for the Qatar Grand Prix, while Max Verstappen placed sixth.
Norris leads Piastri and Verstappen by 24 points before the penultimate round of the championship in Doha.
Piastri finished the practice session just 0.058 seconds behind his McLaren teammate, Norris. Qualifying for Saturday’s sprint race will take place later on Friday.
Verstappen, who won convincingly in Las Vegas six days ago, complained about the handling of his Red Bull during the one-hour session, expressing his frustration with the gear changes and calling his exit from the sixth corner a “disaster.” He finished 0.580 seconds off the pace.Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin placed third, with Adrian Newey, the new team director, present in the pit wall. Carlos Sainz of Williams secured fourth place.
Isack Hadjar finished fifth for Racing Bulls, while Lewis Hamilton was in twelfth position, almost nine tenths of a second away and four places behind Charles Leclerc, who was competing in the other Ferrari.
Norris was hoping to arrive in the Middle East with a 30-point lead over Piastri and 42 over Verstappen, but his disqualification from second place in Las Vegas due to irregularities in his car changed the situation. This decision gave the advantage to Verstappen, winner of four of the last eight races, although the Red Bull driver did not show his best performance in practice. Qualifying for Saturday’s sprint race, of 25 laps, will take place at 20:30 local time (17:30 GMT).
