McLaren's British driver Lando Norris set the fastest time in the only free practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix, the second round of the Formula One World Championship, on Friday. He finished ahead of Ferrari's Monegasque driver. Charles Leclerc.
Lando Norris has had a great start to the season after winning the first round in Australia, he is leading the championship. This Friday, March 21, 2025, he recorded a time of 1: 31.504 minutess, ahead of Leclerc 0.454 second and his Australian teammate Oscar piastri de 0.649 second.
The seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton, defector from Classic Ferrari for sale last summer after 12 years at Mercedes Benz, took 4th place with a time of 1:32.195 p.m., in front of his former teammate George Russell, which completed the top 5.
Dutch Max Verstappen, world champion for the last 4 years, second in Australia, did not do better than 16e. The pilot Red Bull recorded his best time of 1:33.284 p.m. with medium tires, while the leaders used faster soft tires.
Despite switching to soft tires at the end of the session, "MadMax" returned to the pit before attempting his quick lap, which prevented him from improving his position.
The test session was interrupted for a few minutes due to a problem encountered by the driver Alpine, jack doohan, who had to remove his car from the track.
Le Chinese Grand Prix will also see the first sprint race of the season, out of a total of 6 races who will use this format this year, thus changing the weekend program.
Thus, the teams only held one free practice session on Friday, before qualifying, which will determine starting positions. After the sprint race, the drivers will take part in qualifying for the Grand Prix on Sunday.
Lando Norris, who triumphed in Australia in difficult conditions with rain and numerous crashes, hopes to repeat his victory in China with milder weather conditions. This would allow him to confirm that his team McLaren is the main contender for individual and collective trophies this season.
