Lando Norris led the sole hour of practice for the Chinese Grand Prix, lapping almost half a second quicker than his closest rival.
Almost every driver took to the resurfaced track together for the final eight minutes to run the softest rubber as they prepare for today’s sprint race qualifying session. This followed an interruption of around five minutes while Jack Doohan’s car was recovered, his Alpine having suffered an apparent technical failure.Prior to that, George Russell set the pace for Mercedes on the medium rubber. He had three-tenths of a second in hand over Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, followed closely by Oscar Piastri, then Lewis Hamilton the best part of eight-tenths of a second adrift.
However McLaren made a significant step forward when drivers switched to the softer rubber. Norris made a mistake at turn eight on his first lap, but tidied that up for his subsequent run, and despite a slightly scruffy run through the opening sector, easily went fastest in his McLaren.
Leclerc was the only driver who managed to get within a tenth of a second of him. Piastri only managed to get near Norris’s pace in the middle sector and ended up six-tenths of a second off his team mate. Hamilton took fourth, having made a mistake earlier at the pit lane entrance – scene of his infamous 2007 retirement – but made it safely into the pits. The run-off there was long ago switched from gravel to asphalt.
Russell struggled to improve after switching to mediums and was fifth. Nico Hulkenberg put Sauber in a strong sixth – he produced an impressive time in practice at Melbourne a week ago but was unable to replicate it in qualifying.
He was therefore quickest of the midfielders, pursued closely by Alexander Albon in the Williams and Fernando Alonso for Aston Martin. Andrea Kimi Antonelli made his debut at the Shanghai International Circuit in ninth.
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Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10 for Racing Bulls, though his rear wing flap was visibly vibrating at one point.
Max Verstappen was a lowly 15th after abandoning his sole run on the soft tyres. He was sixth-quickest, nine-tenths of a second off the pace, when the drivers ran mediums earlier on. Team mate Liam Lawson, who has not driven on this track before, was 18th.
2025 Chinese Grand Prix Grand Prix first practice result
| P. | # | Driver | Team | Model | Time | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL39 | 1’31.504 | |
| 2 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | SF-25 | 1’31.958 | 0.454 |
| 3 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren-Mercedes | MCL39 | 1’32.153 | 0.649 |
| 4 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Ferrari | SF-25 | 1’32.195 | 0.691 |
| 5 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | W16 | 1’32.377 | 0.873 |
| 6 | 27 | Nico Hulkenberg | Sauber-Ferrari | C45 | 1’32.507 | 1.003 |
| 7 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams-Mercedes | FW47 | 1’32.687 | 1.183 |
| 8 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR25 | 1’32.766 | 1.262 |
| 9 | 12 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Mercedes | W16 | 1’32.874 | 1.370 |
| 10 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT | 02 | 1’32.934 | 1.430 |
| 11 | 87 | Oliver Bearman | Haas-Ferrari | VF-25 | 1’32.967 | 1.463 |
| 12 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin-Mercedes | AMR25 | 1’32.984 | 1.480 |
| 13 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Haas-Ferrari | VF-25 | 1’33.056 | 1.552 |
| 14 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine-Renault | A525 | 1’33.123 | 1.619 |
| 15 | 55 | Carlos Sainz Jnr | Williams-Mercedes | FW47 | 1’33.145 | 1.641 |
| 16 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB21 | 1’33.284 | 1.780 |
| 17 | 6 | Isack Hadjar | Racing Bulls-Honda RBPT | 02 | 1’33.385 | 1.881 |
| 18 | 30 | Liam Lawson | Red Bull-Honda RBPT | RB21 | 1’33.631 | 2.127 |
| 19 | 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Sauber-Ferrari | C45 | 1’33.822 | 2.318 |
| 20 | 7 | Jack Doohan | Alpine-Renault | A525 | 1’33.923 | 2.419 |
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2025 Chinese Grand Prix
- Red Bull reassure Verstappen over ‘when we’ll have a winning car again’ in meeting
- Mercedes explain impact of Antonelli’s floor damage on his Chinese GP performance
- “I gave a lot of lap time away in that first stint”: Verstappen’s full Chinese GP radio
- Stats: Chinese Grand Prix saw most disqualifications in an F1 race for 21 years
- Even the best driver on the grid needs a team mate to push them – Norris
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
21st March 2025, 5:32
I guess in this practice session verstappen tried everything to go as slow as lawson (my father believes the powers at red bull might’ve asked verstappen to try and get lawson up to speed) to understand what the latter is doing wrong, but didn’t manage that!
Mclaren seems strong again, but ofc practice doesn’t tell much, as I’m not sure ferrari will actually be faster than merc this time around, but we’ll see soon.
I have to say these sprint weekends are dangerous, I didn’t know there was a sprint and would’ve had spoilers today if I had checked later on today.
Miroslav Hržica (@mhrzica)
21st March 2025, 6:24
Leclerc was the only driver who managed to get within a tenth of a second of him.
Should be within half a second
Or his time should be corrected
Fer no.65 (@fer-no65)
21st March 2025, 6:30
What a talent Nico Hulkenberg is. Hes probably going to retire from F1 without much to show in terms of results but he’s just sublime.
anon
21st March 2025, 8:37
@fer-no65 it seems like it probably was a little premature to be saying that over a practice session result, given that the sprint qualifying result failed to live up to that.
Sham (@sham)
21st March 2025, 6:53
Yes, because Max is well known for being a team player.
Sham (@sham)
21st March 2025, 6:54
Apologies, that was meant as a reply to @esploratore1
Fat finger syndrome this morning
MacLeod (@macleod)
21st March 2025, 7:44
@sham Yes he is a teamplayer but if you screw him his memory is like a elephant and he doesn’t care to help anymore.
But if you listen to Lawson Max gave all his data and any info to help him…..