Norris delivers McLaren hammer blow in Chinese GP practice

Norris was a commanding 0.454s faster than his nearest rival, Charles Leclerc, while Oscar Piastri was third best.

Barring a mistake at the final corner on his best lap, Piastri would have been within touching distance of his team-mate at the top of the timesheets.

Jack Doohan triggered a red flag when his Alpine struck dramas to end the hour slowest but without a soft tyre run.

Liam Lawson did get a performance run in the final stages, though could do no better than 18th.

The Shanghai circuit had been resurfaced from last year, a fact that was well-received by drivers.

The opening session also marked the first time teams had been on track following a technical directive being issued since the Australian Grand Prix last weekend.

None of the top four teams were impacted, though Alpine and Haas both had to make changes.

At Red Bull, Max Verstappen and Lawson initially ran different front wing specs, as they’d done in Australia a week ago.

Lawson’s start was steady, as it had been in Albert Park, with his fastest a second away from Verstappen and 1.9s away from the best after half an hour.

That time belonged to George Russell at 1:32.377s, though could easily have been Norris.

The McLaren driver was on a better lap, several tenths faster than his Mercedes rival, but dived into the pits to mask his outright pace.

Bu the McLaren was a handful, Norris had a snap of oversteer at Turn 1, while Piastri reported high-speed instability.

Leclerc also had a moment at Turn 1, spinning the Ferrari in the transition to Turn 2 – as the long right-hander tightens and begins to drop downhill.

For much of the session, Leclerc was second fastest, the Ferrari driver three-tenths away from Russell on a 1:32.701s.

With a quarter of an hour remaining, Doohan rolled to a halt with a power steering issue.

He parked the Alpine between Turns 10 and 11 and climbed out to draw the red flag.

The car lost power as he rounded Turn 9, but he did well to hold onto the ailing Alpine and bring it to a safe halt.

Eight minutes remained when the track went green again, the field pouring out on soft compound tyres – Russell’s earlier effort had been set on the medium rubber.

That saw Ferrari rise to the top of the timesheets, Leclerc initially little more than half a tenth clear of Norris with Hamilton also within a tenth in third.

Russell didn’t improve on his lap while Piastri lost time in the middle sector to end up only fifth.

A second effort saw him rise up the timesheets, though a wobble at the final corner cost him time and left him only third.

Lawson did improve, rising to 16th and 1.559s away from Leclerc before aborting a second lap.

Only Doohan missed out on a soft tyre run as he tumbled down the order.

There was clearly more to come from McLaren, with Norris dropping three-tenths in the first sector and more time again in the middle third over his rivals.

Verstappen’s pace was also hidden, too, as he aborted his best lap while Lawson ended proceedings a lowly 18th.