As F1 returns to Shanghai after a five-year hiatus and steps into the unknown, it is Lance Stroll who sets the pace and surprises in the weekend’s only practice ahead of Oscar Piastri. Ta.
From trackside fires to heated moments between Nico Hulkenberg, Lewis Hamilton and Oscar Piastri, the only practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix did not disappoint.
Lance Stroll pushes Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen to first place in China
Touted by some experts as the most important practice session of the season given the many unknowns, Esteban on new floors caps FP1 being the only practice time of the sprint weekend Ocon completed a timed lap at the Shanghai circuit for the first time in five years. 1:41.1.
However, that situation seemed to be shattered after Max Verstappen passed in a time of 1 minute 39.4 seconds and Lewis Hamilton, one of the drivers who felt the impact of Turn 1, limped noticeably on the track. It was.
Grip, or lack thereof, was one of the big unknowns at the start of the session, but local youngster Chou Guanyu reported that while it wasn’t “great”, it was “not bad.”
Verstappen lowered the benchmark to 1:39.1 in the first 10 minutes, Sergio Perez made it 1-2 for Red Bull, and Nico Hulkenberg took third place in his upgraded VF-24 fitted with a new engine cover.
The session was red-flagged after 15 minutes due to a fire breaking out on the grass beside the course. “There is a fire in the grass at Turn 7,” Ocon reported. It took the sheriff a minute to rush in, using fire extinguishers, until a truck with additional equipment arrived.
The drivers returned to the pits having achieved Verstappen’s benchmark 1:38.4.
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The session resumed a few minutes later, with Carlos Sainz kissing the gravel at Turn 10, which was put in place to stop drivers from running wide, and Charles Leclerc in fourth place, lapped. moved up to seventh, with Hamilton complaining that he was being “pushed”. Driven off track by McLaren.
Hamilton, who initially forced Hulkenberg off the track, lined up alongside Oscar Piastri, but ran out of space and was forced to jump into the pit lane. Hamilton was shown a black and white flag for failing to stay to the right of the entry bollard and failing to follow the race director’s instructions.
Mercedes blamed McLaren, saying: “Lewis was forced to take an unscheduled pit lane after being caught in traffic at the final corner and forced into the pits by one of the McLarens.”
Lapping with all three compounds on the track, Leclerc and Sainz, on soft tires, led Ferrari 1-2 going into the final 20 minutes of practice. His Scuderia teammate stood ahead of Red Bull’s medium tire times, and Norris and George Russell’s hard tire lap times.
Alonso had a big moment when he found himself locking up on the way to the pits and instead avoiding bollards on the escape road. A few minutes later, Piastri imitated Alonso’s antics.
Logan Sargent, who switched to soft tires during the traditional qualifying simulation late in the session, improved his timesheets significantly to move into second place. This was the evolution of the course. Teammate Alex Albon then took first place with a time of 1:37.1, while Sainz and Perez both recorded flying laps.
Verstappen didn’t have the same problems as his teammate, clocking 1:36.6 while going from purple to purple to green. However, he lost to Piastri by 0.031. Norris continued to charge, but traffic and a small mistake of going a little wide and touching the gravel forced him to abort his lap.
And with a late effort, Lance Stroll beat everyone with a time of 1:36.302. The Aston Martin driver had a three-tenths of a second lead over Piastri, with Verstappen third.
times
1 Lance Stroll 1:36.302
2 Oscar Piastri +0.327
3 Max Verstappen +0.358
4 Sergio Perez +0.388
5 Nico Hulkenberg +0.799
6 Kevin Magnussen +0.816
7 Esteban Ocon +0.911
8 Alexander Albon +0.927
9 Daniel Ricciardo +0.936
10 Valtteri Bottas +1.228
11 Zhou Guanyu +1.324
12 Yuki Tsunoda +1.704
13 Charles Leclerc +1.788
14 Carlos Sainz +1.982
15 Logan Sargent +1.984
16 Lando Norris +2.328
17 George Russell +2.504
18 Lewis Hamilton +2.537
19 Fernando Alonso +2.634
20 Pierre Gasly +2.974
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