The McLaren team kicked off a crucial weekend in great style, but rivals still have the opportunity to close the gap.
The first and only practice session of the Qatar Grand Prix offered an initial glimpse into how the various teams are adapting to the challenging Emirati circuit. Losail is particularly smooth and highly demanding in terms of aerodynamic downforce, meaning that the basic setup for all teams involves mechanically very low and stiff configurations. With a semi-mandatory baseline setup in place, teams are focusing on fine-tuning parameters to achieve the best on-track balance.
McLaren stands out, but only on soft tires
At the end of the qualifying simulation, McLaren clearly emerged at the top, with Oscar Piastri ahead of Lando Norris. However, Norris only gave up the best time to his teammate on the final corner, and he was about to complete another lap at the top pace, indicating there may be even more potential available for the Australian on this track. It’s important to note that this strong performance came solely on soft tires and after significant setup work. During the earlier runs on hard tires, when grip levels were slightly lower, the MCL39 showed considerable balance issues on both axles. The team will now aim to correct these, as they could prove challenging to manage during the race. The internal McLaren battle currently seems fairly even, and it will be interesting to see if a home-team duel will develop in Woking.
Verstappen and Red Bull currently behind, but with a clear plan
Max Verstappen, on the other hand, faced noticeable difficulties, with a Red Bull still far from optimal. Both the balance and mechanical setup of the RB21 presented underdamped dynamic responses, causing significant chassis oscillations. However, the team from Milton Keynes appears to already have a clear development path. The car heading out for the sprint qualifying could have already addressed many of its issues, potentially becoming competitive. The RB21 produces slightly less downforce, which is a disadvantage in Losail’s high-speed corners, but the extra grip from fresh soft tires could provide a big advantage in qualifying. Following another car on this circuit is particularly challenging, making single-lap performance crucial for the final result. Laurent Mekies’ team often needs to “gamble” on extreme setup parameters to extract the full potential of the car, so it will be very interesting to see in sprint qualifying whether Red Bull engineers have made the correct setup choices.
Ferrari and Mercedes still struggling
The other two top teams, Ferrari and Mercedes, appeared far from both the top of the timesheets and their ideal performance window. Charles Leclerc reported highly penalizing issues with the power steering, which prevented him from feeling the car properly and optimizing its setup. Lewis Hamilton currently looks to be struggling, especially given that almost the entire Qatar track is composed of the types of corners he finds least favorable with the SF25. At Mercedes, Matteo Antonelli started better than George Russell, but also faced uncertainties regarding balance, with overall performance still far from ideal.
Convergence in long runs, but the first sprint qualifying battle is imminent
Looking at long-run times, aside from absolute averages affected by power levels and fuel loads, the trends appear very similar, suggesting probable performance convergence among the teams under race conditions. This makes qualifying even more crucial.
One practice session obviously tells us very little about true competitiveness, especially on a weekend with such limited track time. All eyes now turn to the sprint shootout to discover whether McLaren can carry their Friday form into a weekend-leading advantage, or whether the chasing pack – led by Max Verstappen and Red Bull – has already closed the gap enough to fight for the first of this weekend’s two pole positions.
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