McLaren started the Qatar Grand Prix weekend with the clear intention of putting the painful double disqualification from Las Vegas behind them. In the only free practice session scheduled for the Lusail weekend, the MCL39 cars immediately took control by securing the top two positions.
The headline of the session was the return of a very competitive Oscar Piastri. The Australian set a 1’20″924, beating his teammate Lando Norris by just 58 thousandths of a second. Only in sixth place do we find the third contender in the title fight, Max Verstappen. The Dutch driver finished over half a second off the pace and spent much of the session complaining about the behaviour of his Red Bull.
Several outsiders managed to slot themselves between the two McLaren drivers and Max Verstappen once it was time for the traditional time attack runs. Fernando Alonso placed his Aston Martin in third position with a 1’21″310, more than three tenths behind Piastri. He was followed by Carlos Sainz in the Williams and Isack Hadjar in the Racing Bulls, who both delivered strong laps.
It was also a complicated session for Ferrari. Charles Leclerc could do no better than eighth, finishing 744 thousandths off the benchmark. Lewis Hamilton found himself in twelfth place, just under nine tenths behind the session leader. The Monegasque driver was particularly critical of the power steering on his SF-25.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, arriving in Qatar off two consecutive podium finishes, ended the session in tenth place with just under eight tenths of a deficit. His teammate George Russell finished fourteenth, although he had been leading the timesheets when the drivers were still running on the hard tyres while focusing on race pace. It must be noted that in the early stages the track was still very dusty, and the conditions steadily improved as the session progressed.
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