F1: Verstappen tops slippery Qatar GP Practice

Max Verstappen, on the verge of becoming a 3-time F1 World Champion, turned the fastest lap in the only practice session for the Qatar GP.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

With drivers sliding off the track everywhere around the track due to slippery and windy conditions on the Lusail circuit, Verstappen turned a lap of 1m27.428s in his Red Bull Honda.

The Ferraris of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Charles Leclerc were 2nd and 3rd, 0.334s and 0.481s behind Verstappen respectively.

Fernando Alonso put his Aston Martin in 4th, 0491s behind, while Sergio Perez rounded out the top-5, 0.588s behind his Red Bull Honda teammate.

Logan Sargeant nipped his highly rated Williams teammate Alex Albon to go 11th quick, but can the American stay fast without crashing this weekend?

Red Bull and Ferrari both sampled the softs, but McLaren, Aston Martin and Mercedes did not. Does that leave them short of data, or with a much-needed extra set of soft Pirelli in their back pockets?

The wind was also a factor, with both Leclerc and Russell complaining about it. That could create a much unwanted variable later on too, while the teams will have to adjust on the fly to the changing track temperatures.

Up next is qualifying and with the drivers predicting chaos yesterday while a few bosses are preparing for a mixed up grid.

Qatar GP Practice 1 Results