Lando Norris tops Chinese Grand Prix practice

McLaren’s Lando Norris set the pace from Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc in Friday practice at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Norris was 0.454 seconds quicker than Leclerc with a lap right at the end of the only session before sprint qualifying later on Friday.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri was third fastest despite running wide into the gravel at the final corner, ending up 0.649secs off the pace.

Norris also left some time on the table on his fastest lap, washing wide through the long Turn One.

Lewis Hamilton was fourth fastest for Ferrari, 0.691secs off the pace, ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, Williams’ Alex Albon and Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso.

Max Verstappen was on a lap that would have put him fastest at the time a few minutes before Norris set his pace-setting lap – only to abort it and come into the pits. The world champion ended the session in 16th place in his Red Bull.

The timing sectors suggested Verstappen would have set a time about 0.3-0.4secs behind what became Norris’ pace-setting lap.

Even so, Verstappen was 0.347secs faster than team-mate Liam Lawson, who was 18th.

A number of drivers had off-track moments as they reacquainted themselves with the Shanghai track, which has been freshly resurfaced for this year’s race, including Norris and Leclerc.

But there were no major incidents, other than a brief red flag to recover the stricken Alpine of Jack Doohan, who stopped on track when the car cut out.

Sprint qualifying starts at 07:30 UK time. It sets the grid for the sprint race on Saturday, after which there is the usual qualifying session for the grand prix.