Leclerc is starting to dominate in Qatar against McLaren ahead of the final sprint classification of the year

The points at stake This Saturday in the sprint race, they are important for McLaren and Ferrari in their battle for the Constructors’ World Championship. They should do it. And for now, although the Qatar circuit should be more favorable on paper for McLaren than for Ferrari, in cooler asphalt conditions than previous courses at Losail, The Ferrari started at the front.

Charles Leclerc started to lead the first and only practice session of the weekend before the sprint classification this afternoon (6:30 pm peninsular time in Spain/DAZN)with Norris second at 0″425 and Piastri in third position at 0″472.

The two McLarens, after Ferrari, with Carlos Sainz in fourth position at 0.740, with room for improvement by one lap after showing good speed on other compounds.

In fact, Before that final simulation, Carlos Sainz was leading most of the session with Leclerc in 2nd positionboth have hard rubber. And in the final minutes, the real action began in the first qualifying test lap with soft tires, where the Ferraris and the McLarens showed themselves as the favorites in the fight for all this weekend.

Verstappen was 11th in 1″2, but the Dutchmanno matter how hard he is on the ropes, he usually makes huge strides from free practice to qualifying and should never be taken for granted, even with the problems he continues to have with his car at the end of the year. The same unknown leave on Mercedes, with Russell 8th and Hamilton 10th, far from the lead. After sweeping Las Vegas, it remains to be seen if they will benefit from the lower track temperatures seen this Friday compared to previous years in Qatar.

The title of constructors, at stake

Ferrari and McLaren played it. Only two F1 Grand Prix left to complete the course and Those in orange lead the Constructors’ World Cup by just 24 points before the Italians. With the Drivers’ World Championship decided, something that Max Verstappen celebrated in Las Vegas until Monday morning, the great battle now moves to the title of the Constructors’ World Championship, where the two teams face a unique chance to end their drought.

Ferrari has not celebrated a title since 2008, certainly for Constructors, while McLaren achieved the team’s last crown in 1998. Many years that could end in two races for one of them with the permission of a Red Bull more complicated.

In this context, the Ferrari and McLaren drivers came out of the first free practice sessions of the Qatar F1 GP with the need to make the most of the first and only practice session available this weekend.

This was the last GP with a sprint format, the penultimate event of the course, where the drivers had only Free Practice 1 to find the appropriate settings and study the tires for the short classification this Friday (6: 30 pm/DAZN) , which will organize the grid for this Saturday’s sprint race (it distributes 8 points to the winner until it reaches 8th, with one point).

McLaren always tends to leave more room for free practice in qualifying. For now, the battle is promising, but this is the time to decide.

Alonso, 12th

Fernando Alonso He has already warned that his car will continue to be one of the worst on the grid Qataras in previous races, but after touching the points on Vegashe was eager to get back on track and try again.

So far, in Free Practice 1 he is 12th although he was present in the Top-10 during part of the session in his turns with medium rubber. The Spaniard will try again, with fewer weapons, hoping to make the most of a weekend where teams may have more difficulty optimizing their settings due to the sprint format, with fewer Free Practice session.

The Asturian should take the sprint classification as the best test for Saturday’s long and final classification to get there with the best possible settings to try to advance to Q2 and, perhaps, Q3 if he exploits the mistakes of his rivals .