SHANGHAI, April 19 — Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was quickest in first and only practice for the Chinese Grand Prix on Friday, ahead of McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, with championship leader Max Verstappen third.

Canadian Stroll took advantage of a rapidly quickening track at the end of the 60-minute session and some upgrades to his car to record a blistering lap of 1min 36.302sec, beating Piastri by 0.327sec, with the Red Bull of Verstappen 0.031sec further back.