Lando Norris stuns in China as Max Verstappen aborts

Lando Norris served notice he will be the man to beat in sprint qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix after dazzling in the single practice session at the Shanghai International Circuit.

As the clock ticked past the allotted hour mark on an unusually warm, sunny day for this time of year, Norris unleashed his McLaren that had claimed victory in the season-opening Australian Grand Prix five days ago to post a stunning time of 1:31.504s.

At that stage, Norris was six-tenths of a second clear of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc, with the Monégasque only able to shave just over a tenth off of his best time to finish 0.454s adrift.

Only three other drivers finished within a second of Norris - team-mate Oscar Piastri, Lewis Hamilton in his Ferrari, and Mercedes' George Russell.

As for Red Bull's Max Verstappen, the four-time F1 champion aborted his sole effort on soft tyres in the closing stages that followed a red flag for Alpine's Jack Doohan, leaving him in a lowly 16th on the timesheet.

New track aids grip

On a recently resurfaced track, Alex Albon of Williams and Red Bull's Liam Lawson, both had offs in different places in the first five minutes. The initial suggestion was the surface was slippery and lacked grip.

But no sooner had Lawson recovered than Racing Bulls' Yuki Tsunoda remarked that the surface was "much grippier than last year".

This was reflected in the times. Following a benchmark of 1:35.184s from Mercedes' George Russell, the times tumbled to such an extent that Verstappen's pole position time from last year of 1:33.360s was quickly beaten.

With 20 minutes elapsed, after Leclerc became the first driver to dip below the one minute 33 mark with a 1:32.877s, Russell surged to the top by half a second over the Monégasque, with Hamilton a further three-tenths of a second adrift. The trio were all on the medium Pirelli compound

Following a period of longer running, albeit with all the teams unable to carry out too much given the sprint qualifying session to follow later in the day, the times remained unaltered until Piastri finally slotted into third with 25 minutes remaining.

A few minutes later, Leclerc was the first driver to make a significant mistake. Through the Turn 2 sweep, Leclerc lost the car's rear, sending him backwards into the gravel trap.

With just under 14 minutes remaining, and at the worst possible moment as soft-tyre bursts were due to commence, Alpine's Jack Doohan brought out the red flags.

The Australian, who had pulled his car off track but in an area where it still needed to be recovered, radioed in to say he had lost the power steering, and all power, suggesting a hydraulics failure.

It resulted in a four-minute delay and a 10-minute qualifying-esque session. Russell was the first of the leading drivers to post a time on the red-striped rubber but lost two-tenths in the first sector and failed to improve.

Instead, it was the Ferraris who first indicated what could be achieved, with Leclerc setting a 1:32.103s and Hamilton just 0.092s adrift. The duo were soon split by Norris, the Briton 0.058s down on Leclerc.

On his first flying lap, Verstappen opted to abort. It meant his best time was a 1:33.284s on the medium rubber.

Norris and Leclerc, however, were able to get in a second run, allowing the Briton to comfortably lead the way. 

Outside of the top five, it was an unusual mix, spearheaded by Stake's Nico Hulkenberg, followed by Albon, Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, Kimi Antonelli in his Mercedes and Tsunoda, with Haas' Ollie Bearman 11th, almost 1.5s adrift.

Stake's Gabriel Bortoleto, who had never stepped foot in China before this weekend, never mind drive a lap at the circuit, was the slowest of those who saw out the session, finishing 19th, 2.318s down.

Bortoleto was a place behind Liam Lawson, who had been used as a guinea pig for most of the session as Red Bull tested a different nose and front-wing configuration compared to Verstappen.

Doohan naturally brought up the rear after failing to test the soft tyres.