Lando Norris tops the first session of 2025 as Oliver Bearman ends up in the wall

Lando Norris has ended the first session with the fastest time (1:17.252) which was 0.149 faster than Williams driver Carlos Sainz.

The eventful session had its first incident only 8 minutes into the session when Liam Lawson tapped the wall going into Turn 9. Luckily for the New Zealand driver, no damage was caused to the front right suspension and there was no puncture to worry about.

The first red flag of the season was brought out after Alpine’s Jack Doohan pushed the limits at Turn 7 and kicked up some gravel onto the racing line.

Turn 7 was a problem for a few drivers including home favourite Oscar Piastri and World Champion Max Verstappen as both drivers put a wheel into the gravel whilst pushing the limits of the track.

It was a relatively quiet session after the restart until Haas driver Oliver Bearman ran wide at the exit of the fast right hander at Turn 10 and ended up in the wall. The British driver seemed to have, on first glance, broken the front wing, front right suspension, sidepod, rear right suspension and may have caused possible rear wing as well as possible gearbox damage.

Once the green light gave us 12 minutes left in the session it was Carlos Sainz who was 0.060 faster than Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, however, the favourite to take the championship off of Max Verstappen, Lando Norris, charged ahead with a time 0.149 faster than the rest of the field.

With about a minute left on the clock George Russell caused a yellow flag after dipping a tyre on the grass at Turn 4, spinning and narrowly missing the barrier.

After Practice 1 the times are as follows:

1. Lando Norris - 1:17.252

2. Carlos Sainz - 1:17.401 (+0.149)

3. Charles Leclerc - 1:17.461 (+0.209)

4. Oscar Piastri - 1:17.670 (+0.418)

5. Max Verstappen - 1:17.696 (+0.444)

6. Alexander Albon - 1:17.713 (+0.461)

7. George Russell - 1:17.716 (+0.464)

8. Fernando Alonso - 1:17.736 (+0.484)

9. Isack Hadjar - 1:17.847 (+0.595)

10. Lance Stroll - 1:18.057 (+0.805)

11. Yuki Tsunoda - 1:18.061 (+0.809)

12. Lewis Hamilton - 1:18.071 (+0.819

13. Jack Doohan - 1:18.232 (+0.980)

14. Kimi Antonelli - 1:18.390 (+1.138)

15. Gabriel Bortoleto - 1:18.438 (+1.186)

16. Liam Lawson - 1:18.455 (+1.203)

17. Pierre Gasly - 1:18.505 (+1.253)

18. Nico Hulkenberg - 1:18.586 (+1.334)

19. Esteban Ocon - 1:19.139 (+1.887)

20. Oliver Bearman - 1:19.312 (+2.060)