Lando Norris took an impressive pole position for the Qatar GP Sprint as McLaren struck first in their constructors’ title battle with Ferrari, taking first and third on Saturday.
Five days after he saw his Drivers’ Championship bid against Max Verstappen officially end in Las Vegas, Norris led all three segments of Sprint Qualifying around the high-speed Lusail International Circuit to claim the commanding pole.
But Mercedes’ George Russell, winner of the Las Vegas race, denied title-chasing McLaren a lock on the front row, relegating Oscar Piastri to the opposite row berth.
Norris’ lap time of 1:21.012 was 0.063s ahead of Russell and Piastre another 0.096s ahead.
Ferrari, who trail McLaren by 24 points with two race weekends to go, looked quick earlier in solo practice but failed to challenge in SQ3, with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc qualifying only fourth and fifth respectively.
New four-time champion Verstappen was never in the mix in his Red Bull and could only finish sixth, although that was still 10 places higher than struggling team-mate Sergio Perez.
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Sergio Perez is making his seventh Q1/SQ1 exit after failing to qualify for SQ2 at the Qatar Grand Prix.
With no end to road testing, it seems, as speculation continues to swirl over his future after the season ends next week, Perez was knocked out in SQ1 in 16th place, the seventh time in this year’s qualifying session that the Mexican has failed to clear the first hurdle. :
Lewis Hamilton again comfortably edged out Mercedes team-mate Russell to start seventh, with Alpine’s Pierre Gasly eighth, as the Frenchman’s superb run of form continues in recent season.
“I’m just slow. Same thing every weekend,” Hamilton admitted.
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After struggling in sprint qualifying at the Qatar Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton admits his car is not the problem and that he is “just slow”.
“Car felt relatively decent. No issues. Not much else to say.”
RB’s Liam Lawson, who is eyeing Perez’s place in Red Bull’s main squad next season, rounded out the top 10, despite losing ninth to Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg after his final lap time was wiped out for a run restriction breach because of
Norris takes control as McLaren lives up to expectations
Having experienced one of their few disappointing events of the season in Sin City last week, McLaren expected their MCL38 car to bounce back around the 16-lap Lusail track, given the long high-speed corners;
That prediction proved entirely correct under the floodlights on Friday night as the title-chasing Woking outfit made a near-perfect start to their Qatar weekend.
Norris posted the fastest time in all three knockout segments, and although his lead fell from a high half a second in SQ1 at the end of the season, the Briton always seemed to have enough in hand to see off his rivals.
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Watch Lando Norris take pole for the Qatar GP Sprint on board.
“It’s so fast here. It feels like the fastest Tour of the year,” said Norris, who is claiming his first Sprint pole of the year in China.
“Great qualification, especially coming back from where we were in Las Vegas is a nice thing to do.”
Norris, who remained on pole ahead of the improving Russell despite abandoning a final lap which he admitted contained “too many mistakes”, will now look to make his early advantage count in the 25-lap sprint against what he expects to be a more brutal is a challenge to follow them.
“I expect all of them to be a challenge,” Norris added.
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Anthony Davidson analyzes Lando Norris and George Russell’s sprint qualifying at the Qatar GP.
“I certainly don’t expect an easy race. I think long-term things can easily suit Mercedes a bit more than us, but I still hope we can have a good race.
“And we want to get the most points from a constructor’s point of view, even though the points are minimal and one position is a point, we still want to go out and get every point we can.”
Jumping into Piastri on his final lap, Russell admitted that Norris was still “out of reach.” However, with McLaren looking into the wider picture this weekend, the Mercedes driver stated: “They are in a big championship fight. We have nothing to lose. We are going for big results.
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George Russell said it was “so far so good” after his Mercedes finished second for the Qatar Sprint.
“We will try to make a good start. The sprint is just a sprint. We have to focus on qualifying as well.”
Sky Sports F1 live Qatar GP schedule
Saturday, November 30
12.10: F1 Academy qualifying round
13:00 Qatar GP Sprint Rally
14:00 Qatar GP SPRINT
15.30: Ted’s sprint notebook
16:00: F2 Sprint race
17.15. Qatar GP qualifying session
18:00 QATAR GP QUALIFYING
20:00: F1 Academy: First race
20.45: Ted’s qualifying notebook
Sunday December 1
10.55: Second F1 Academy race
12.15: F2 feature race
14.30. Grand Prix Sunday. Qatar GP Rally
16:00 Qatar Grand Prix
18:00. Checkered flag. Qatar GP reaction
19:00: Ted’s notebook
Formula 1’s season-ending triple whammy continues this weekend with the Qatar Grand Prix, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream the last two F1 races and more with a NOW Sports Month membership. no contract, cancel anytime
