Everything that happened in Chinese GP practice

Formula 1 championship leader Lando Norris and McLaren showed ominous pace again in the sole practice session for the Chinese Grand Prix sprint weekend.

Top five
1 Norris
2 Leclerc
3 Piastri
4 Hamilton
5 Russell
Full results at bottom of page

The session became a late scramble for a run on soft tyres after a red flag to retrieve Jack Doohan's Alpine, which had stopped in a run-off area.

Those qualifying simulations briefly produced a Ferrari 1-2 with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, before Norris split them in an initially very close top three.

But Norris had made errors on that lap, and his second attempt on those tyres produced a 1m31.504s - two seconds quicker than last year's pole time on the newly-resurfaced track - and Leclerc was left 0.454s behind with his own second effort.

Oscar Piastri was third between the Ferraris, but there was clearly more pace in the car as he ran wide on that lap.

George Russell's Mercedes had been comfortably fastest before everyone went to soft tyres and ended up fifth on his medium-tyre time.

Max Verstappen aborted his soft-tyre lap and was only 16th, still two places ahead of Red Bull team-mate Liam Lawson.

Melbourne struggler Haas was in better shape: Ollie Bearman and Esteban Ocon 11th and 13th having trailed the pack a week ago.

But it was Sauber that led the midfield - Nico Hulkenberg an eye-catching sixth fastest.

As well as Doohan's mechanical problem, there was also a spin for Leclerc and early gravel visits for Alex Albon and Lawson.

Hamilton's morning also included a trip over what's now an asphalt run-off area in the pitlane entry - where he infamously got stuck in the gravel in 2007, effectively wrecking his title bid in his rookie season.

Full results

1 Lando Norris (McLaren) 1m31.504s
2 Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.454s
3 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) +0.649s
4 Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) +0.691s
5 George Russell (Mercedes) +0.873s
6 Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) +1.003s
7 Alex Albon (Williams) +1.183s
8 Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +1.262s
9 Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +1.370s
10 Yuki Tsunoda (Racing Bulls) +1.430s
11 Ollie Bearman (Haas) +1.463s
12 Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) +1.480s
13 Esteban Ocon (Haas) +1.552s
14 Pierre Gasly (Alpine) +1.619s
15 Carlos Sainz (Williams) +1.641s
16 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +1.780s
17 Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) +1.881s
18 Liam Lawson (Red Bull) +2.127s
19 Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) +2.318s
20 Jack Doohan (Alpine) +2.419s