Qatar GP – FP1: Max Verstappen ahead of Frenchman Pierre Gasly – f1only.fr

This is the Red Bull driver Max Verstappen who set the best time during the first free practice session of the Grand Prix of Qatar this Friday in 1.23.723 (Tender).

The Dutchman is ahead of the AlphaTauri of Frenchman Pierre Gasly by four tenths (Tender) and the Mercedes driven by Valtteri Bottas by four tenths (tender).

Behind, Lewis Hamilton (+0.786), Yuki Tsunoda (+0.925), Carlos Sainz (+0.990), Charles Leclerc (+1.067), Sergio Perez (+1.192), Esteban Ocon (+1.249) and Lando Norris (+1.492) complete the top ten of this first free practice session in Doha, Qatar.

An unrepresentative session

As in Bahrain earlier this season, this first Qatari GP free practice session contested by day is not very representative of the rest of the weekend as qualifying and the race will be contested at night in Losail.

Lots of sand on the track

The Losail circuit being located in the middle of the desert, sand is obviously omnipresent on the track at the start of the weekend and, despite the addition of strips of grass behind the vibrators supposed to trap the sand.

Hydraulic problem for Stroll

Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll had to cut his driving session short because of a hydraulic problem detected on his car. His engineer asked him to come back to the pit at idle and not to shift gears (maybe a problem with the gearbox).

We take our marks!

As you can see, this first free practice session was only used by the drivers to take their marks at the start of the weekend and adjust their car. There is therefore no conclusion to be drawn from this first free practice session in Qatar and we will have to wait until this Saturday during qualifying to find out which team has done the best work.

The second free practice session is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. (Paris time) and will obviously be watched live on F1only.fr.

Times table