The first heat of the Qatar Grand Prix sprint weekend got underway under the lights, with Charles Leclerc proving to be the fastest.
The setting sun, a strong crosswind and a lot of mistakes characterised the first third of the opening session, in which Red Bull Racing ‘dominated’. However, big rival McLaren looked rather unstable, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri both hitting the bottom of their cars hard, while Sergio Perez also suffered a similar fate. Meanwhile, Scuderia Ferrari slowly began to emerge, switching from medium to soft compounds and taking the lead. Here Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc took turns setting the fastest time, with the latter finishing the session in first place. The unstable McLaren pairing of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri await the next sprint qualifying session from second and third.
