If Oscar Piastri needed to rediscover his mojo to keep the title race alive to Abu Dhabi, then topping the one and only practice session in Qatar was a good way to kick things off.
McLaren started the session slowly but picked up its pace with the soft tire runs toward the end. Lando Norris sat three-tenths clear of his teammate and title rival after the initial qualifying simulations, only for Piastri to move half a tenth clear with his next push while Norris made a mistake.
It shows what fine margins lie between the two McLaren drivers here in Qatar, but also points to the team making good on its favorite tag coming into the weekend. The run of medium and high-speed corners in Qatar were always expected to favor McLaren’s car — and Piastri’s driving style — and practice points to that indeed being the case.
Max Verstappen could only muster sixth for Red Bull, half a second off the pace, and spent much of the session complaining on the radio about not feeling totally at ease with the car. There’s surely more to come but for now, the Dutchman may be a step behind the two papaya cars.
Attention now shifts to sprint qualifying later tonight but right now, McLaren looks a step ahead of the pack in Qatar.