Max Verstappen led the two Ferraris in a hot and windy Practice session at the Qatar Grand Prix.
A revamped Lusail circuit made its return to Formula 1 for the first time since debuting in 2021, although the layout remains the same.
But high winds, a low sun and a very slippery surface meant drivers tip-toed their way into the session, with several sliding off the circuit including Verstappen on several occasions.
Mercedes looked more comfortable than most as George Russell set the early pace, during which times improved by seconds per lap rather than tenths.
A few extra laps meant Fernando Alonso would be fastest when the first runs ended, almost half a second clear of Charles Leclerc and Verstappen in third.
Due to the conditions, many teams opted to run just a single set of hard or medium tyres for the first 45 minutes.
McLaren began to up the pace with Oscar Piastri going P1 before teammate Lando Norris slotted into second.
Ferrari was the first to fit a second set of tyres, albeit switching from hards to mediums, and Leclerc would go fastest by two-tenths on a 1m28.1s.
Alex Albon debuted the soft tyres in his Williams but ran off track on his flying lap, while teammate Logan Sargeant went sixth fastest on his first lap on the red-striped compound.
Nico Hulkenberg improved to second for Haas before Alonso returned to P1 on fresh mediums in his Aston Martin.
It would be Verstappen though who emerged on soft tyres and ultimately went fastest, posting a 1m27.428s in his Red Bull.
The two Ferraris also switched to softs, the only team to use three sets in practice, with Carlos Sainz pipping Leclerc in second and third.
Alonso slipped to fourth, fractionally ahead of Sergio Perez in fifth. Yui Tsunoda jumped up to sixth, ahead of Hulkenberg and Russell in eighth.
The two McLarens didn’t improve on their second set of tyres as Piastri and Norris rounded out the top 10.
Sargeant and Albon followed in the two Williams’, ahead of Lewis Hamilton in 13th. Lance Stroll sat 14th in front of the Alpine pair, Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly.
The Alfa Romeos of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu were 17th and 18th as Liam Lawson and Kevin Magnussen completed the order.
