Norris Takes Top Spot in Chinese GP Practice

McLAREN'S Lando Norris led the way ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc during Friday practice sessions for the Chinese Grand Prix.

Norris finished 0.454 seconds ahead of Leclerc with a final-lap time just prior to the sprint qualifying which took place later on Friday.

Oscar Piastri from McLaren finished as the third-fastest driver, though he went off track into the gravel at the last turn and ended up 0.649 seconds behind the leader.

Norris additionally had some room to spare on his quickest lap, going too wide through the extended Turn One.

Lewis Hamilton clocked in at fourth place with Ferrari, trailing behind by 0.691 seconds, followed by George Russell from Mercedes, Nico Hulkenberg from Sauber, Alex Albon from Williams, and Fernando Alonso from Aston Martin.

Max Verstappen was on a lap that could have placed him at the top of the timesheets when Norris produced his leading effort, but he chose to abandon this run and returned to the pit lane instead. He concluded the session occupying the 16th spot in his Red Bull car.

The timing data indicated that Verstappen likely would have posted a time approximately 0.3 to 0.4 seconds slower than Norris' leading lap.

Despite this, Verstappen outpaced his teammate Liam Lawson by 0.347 seconds, placing him ahead at 18th position.

Several drivers experienced excursions off the racing line as they got back into the rhythm at the newly surfaced Shanghai circuit this season, among them were Norris and Leclerc.

However, apart from a short red-flag period to retrieve Jack Doohan’s stranded Alpine after he halted on the circuit due to his engine cutting out, there weren’t any significant events.

The sprint qualifying begins at 07:30 UK time. This determines the starting lineup for the sprint race on Saturday, followed by the standard qualifying round for the grand prix.

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