Max Verstappen led the first and only free practice session for the Qatar Grand Prix, the fourth of six scheduled races on the 2023 calendar, which returns to the sprint format this weekend. As it has fully re-emerged, the classification will be held this afternoon (19:00) to sort out the order for Sunday’s race, with Saturday reserved for the sprint only.

Mathematically, Verstappen only needs to score three points to secure his third world title, making it very likely that he will become champion tomorrow. He was fastest from the start, but waited until the final moments to set a fast lap on the soft tires (1.27.428). While the Red Bull driver left behind the two Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc, Fernando Alonso finished the race in fourth place and became the first pilot to race with medium tyres.

With its hard Pirelli compound, Alonso had led the session for minutes at the wheel of the Aston Martin; Despite this, both the Spaniard and his team will enter this weekend’s race, aware that the Qatar circuit is not at all conducive. Features of AMR23. The Spaniard set a time of 1.28.624; This was four tenths faster than Leclerc and half a second faster than Verstappen.

With the same tire, Oscar Piastri, with the support of his teammate Lando Norris, left them all behind in McLaren (1.28.380) and waited for the drivers to decide to try the soft tyre. On the medium tyres, Leclerc temporarily put Ferrari ahead (1.28.104) and Alonso lowered his record (1.27.919), but as soon as Verstappen opted for the soft compound in the final minutes of the session, Red Bull had no rivals (1.27.428) and two He overtook Ferrari, but Mercedes and McLaren opted for soft play.

Considering that this Free Practice 1 was held in natural light conditions and that both this afternoon’s time trial and the weekend’s two races will take place, the session did not cause any incidents and the times set are not significant. Nighttime.