The China Mail - Piastri edges Norris as McLaren dominate Qatar practice

The 24-year-old Australian, who led the championship for much of the season until he lost form and consistency, clocked a fastest lap in one minute and 20.924 seconds.

Norris, who leads him and Max Verstappen by 24 points in the title race, was outpaced by 0.058 seconds in the final minutes.

Fernando Alonso was third for Aston Martin ahead of Carlos Sainz of Williams, Racing Bulls' rookie Isack Hadjar and Verstappen, who was half a second off the McLaren's pace for Red Bull.

Alex Albon was seventh in the second Williams ahead of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, Lance Stroll in the second Aston Martin and teenage Italian rookie Kimi Antonelli for Mercedes.

Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was 12th, eight-tenths off the top, in the second Ferrari and like most drivers endured a series of 'offs' in a difficult afternoon session at the Lusail International Circuit.

Norris made a leisurely start to proceedings and after 25 minutes had run only six laps, the McLaren team having delayed both cars' entry into practice to run various safety and mechanical checks.

As a result, Norris was 20th and last as the circuit floodlights came on and he began his climb through the standings reaching 11th, two places below Piastri, after half an hour.

He was still eight-tenths off the pace after running wide twice and had asked his race engineer "where can I find 1.6 seconds?"

Like McLaren, Ferrari were also struggling for balance and pure pace with Leclerc 14th and Hamilton 12th after 40 minutes and several off-track excursions as they battled the dusty and bumpy conditions.

Norris's perseverance began to pay off as he climbed to fourth, Piastri remained 10th.

Verstappen was clearly unhappy with his car and spent much of the session complaining about his set-up.

"Every time I'm off the throttle, the car is jumping a lot," he said before later adding that the "clipping out of turn six is a disaster".

With 12 minutes remaining, Oliver Bearman switched to softs in his Haas as teams began evaluating their tyre options ahead of sprint qualifying later Friday and a Grand Prix, on Sunday, in which all tyres have been restricted to a maximum of 25 laps – a rule designed for safety that will ensure a two-stop race.

Hadjar, on softs, went top before Alonso and the two McLarens showed their true pace, Norris clocking 1:20.982 to go top ahead of Piastri who then replied with a lap in 1:20.924 to take the opening practice honours.

For Piastri, who led the championship for 15 Grands Prix earlier in the season, it was a welcome boost ahead of Saturday's sprint race and the two remaining Grand Prix races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.

N.Lo--ThChM