McLaren duo lead practice with Oscar Piastri ahead of Lando Norris – Max Verstappen rants like a madman – Nico Hülkenberg in eleventh place
McLaren driver Oscar Piastri narrowly set the fastest time in free practice for the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix, ahead of championship leader Lando Norris, his teammate. Max Verstappen in the Red Bull finished practice in sixth place among 20 drivers after many complaints over the radio.
Sauber driver Nico Hülkenberg missed out on a top 10 finish by less than a tenth of a second and finished eleventh after the one-hour session.
There were no major incidents. However, there were numerous minor crashes and slips that had only minor consequences: most drivers abandoned their respective laps. Among others, Charles Leclerc struggled and radioed: “I can’t feel anything and can’t get a feel for the balance.”
Yuki Tsunoda was irritated by a radio message. His team told him: “Bottas behind you has DRS.” Tsunoda replied: “I didn’t even know Bottas was driving!” Shortly afterwards, the TV director showed Valtteri Bottas in the Mercedes pit – in his role as an observer.
How did the three title contenders fare?
Oscar Piastri got off to the best start in practice and was in the top 10 right from the start. He only made a few minor mistakes, such as going slightly off track at turn 10. He set the fastest time at the very end on soft tires.
Lando Norris didn’t get off to such a good start and spent most of the session in the second half of the standings. He also spent a long time in the pits. After a good half hour, he radioed: “Where can I find 1.6 seconds?” His team radioed back: “Mostly in turn 7 and at the apex of turn 10.” Shortly afterwards, Norris improved to a top-5 position. Norris was actually on track for the fastest time on soft tires, but on his final attempt, he seemed to be irritated by slow cars, causing him to veer off the track in the final corner and abort the lap.
Max Verstappen had difficulties right from the start. After just five laps on hard tires, he radioed: “The left front tire is losing grip.” Shortly afterwards, he said: “The steering suddenly feels strange.” After half an hour: “The gearshift feels slow and hard.” And: “The car is poorly damped. Every time I take my foot off the gas, the car bounces wildly.” He also complained about too little energy coming out of turn 6. Sky expert Ralf Schumacher said: “That’s not good. It means you started with the wrong setup again.”
However, Red Bull team boss Laurent Mekies reassured viewers, saying on Sky: “Everything is fine, no problem.” In fact, Verstappen set the third-fastest time on hard tires behind Norris and Piastri, but was half a second off the pace. On soft tires, he was also more than 0.5 seconds off the pace.