Lando Norris topped the sole practice session at the Chinese Grand Prix with a foreboding margin ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
Norris saved his fastest lap until the very end of the hour, which was briefly disrupted with 15 minutes to go to recover Jack Doohan’s stopped Alpine stuck between Turns 10 and 11.
The entire field switched to the soft compound when the session resumed, no one having undertaken any performance running before the stoppage, but Norris’s first lap was scrappy despite a purple first sector. But the Briton didn’t miss with his second flying lap. Barring some understeer through Turns 1 and 2, he collected purple times in the final two splits to set the benchmark at 1m31.504s.
On the freshly resurfaced Shanghai International Circuit the time was 2.156s quicker than last year’s pole lap, the new tarmac yielding considerably improved grip and evolving rapidly. It comfortably eclipsed Leclerc’s next-best lap, which was 0.454s further back.
Leclerc was fortunate to hold second, however, with Oscar Piastri having been on track to make it an easy McLaren one-two before making a critical mistake at the final corner.
Piastri was 0.017s up on Norris heading into the last sector, but he exited the final turn wide and dipped two wheels into the gravel, costing him 0.632s to his teammate and leaving him third.
Lewis Hamilton was fourth fastest, the Ferrari driver 0.691s off the pace and 0.182s ahead of former Mercedes teammate George Russell.
Neither Red Bull Racing driver was able to vie among the McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes cars, with Max Verstappen slumping to 16th ahead of teammate Liam Lawson in 18th.
Nico Hulkenberg put Sauber in the mix in sixth, though the German was 1s slower than Norris. He headed Alex Albon, Fernando Alonso, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Yuki Tsunoda inside the top 10.
An elevated track temperature of 102 degrees F showed up blistering to be a potential concern in Shanghai, with several drivers struggling with the left-front tire, which is subjected to considerable force through the long Turns 1 and 2 and, later, Turns 12 and 13.
Oliver Bearman made it to the end of a practice session for the first time this season, the Briton completing the hour in 11th for Haas ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Haas teammate Esteban Ocon.
Pierre Gasly was the quickest only surviving Alpine car, finishing 14th ahead of Carlos Sainz.
Verstappen’s 16th-placed effort was not representative of his car’s speed, the Dutchman having aborted his sole flying lap on softs before reverting to the medium tire.
Isack Hadjar followed in 17th ahead of Lawson, who spent longer on the softs but couldn’t move higher up the order.
Gabriel Bortoleto was 19th for Sauber ahead of Doohan, who was last in the order after his car switched itself off after 17 laps, depriving him of a chance to run on softs before Sprint qualifying.
