Norris well ahead in sole practice session at Shanghai, Verstappen 15th · RaceFans

Lando Norris led the sole hour of practice for the Chinese Grand Prix, lapping almost half a second quicker than his closest rival.

Almost every driver took to the resurfaced track together for the final eight minutes to run the softest rubber as they prepare for today’s sprint race qualifying session. This followed an interruption of around five minutes while Jack Doohan’s car was recovered, his Alpine having suffered an apparent technical failure.

Prior to that, George Russell set the pace for Mercedes on the medium rubber. He had three-tenths of a second in hand over Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, followed closely by Oscar Piastri, then Lewis Hamilton the best part of eight-tenths of a second adrift.

However McLaren made a significant step forward when drivers switched to the softer rubber. Norris made a mistake at turn eight on his first lap, but tidied that up for his subsequent run, and despite a slightly scruffy run through the opening sector, easily went fastest in his McLaren.

Leclerc was the only driver who managed to get within a tenth of a second of him. Piastri only managed to get near Norris’s pace in the middle sector and ended up six-tenths of a second off his team mate. Hamilton took fourth, having made a mistake earlier at the pit lane entrance – scene of his infamous 2007 retirement – but made it safely into the pits. The run-off there was long ago switched from gravel to asphalt.

Russell struggled to improve after switching to mediums and was fifth. Nico Hulkenberg put Sauber in a strong sixth – he produced an impressive time in practice at Melbourne a week ago but was unable to replicate it in qualifying.

He was therefore quickest of the midfielders, pursued closely by Alexander Albon in the Williams and Fernando Alonso for Aston Martin. Andrea Kimi Antonelli made his debut at the Shanghai International Circuit in ninth.

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Yuki Tsunoda completed the top 10 for Racing Bulls, though his rear wing flap was visibly vibrating at one point.

Max Verstappen was a lowly 15th after abandoning his sole run on the soft tyres. He was sixth-quickest, nine-tenths of a second off the pace, when the drivers ran mediums earlier on. Team mate Liam Lawson, who has not driven on this track before, was 19th.