In the electric light the first stage of the sprint weekend of the Qatar Grand Prix began, which was also the only free practice session, in which Charles Leclerc proved to be the fastest.
The setting sun, strong crosswinds, many mistakes, these characterized the first third of the opening practice, in which Red Bull Racing "dominated". The great rival McLaren, however, seemed quite unstable, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri hit their floor hard, but Sergio Perez suffered a similar fate. In the meantime, Scuderia Ferrari began to gradually develop, switching from medium to soft tires and reaching the lead. Here, alternately, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc set reference times, and in the end the latter ended the session in first place. The unstable McLaren pair, driven by Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, await the sprint qualifications from second and third places.
