Norris beats Russell to secure pole for Qatar F1 Sprint
McLaren driver Lando Norris beat Mercedes racer George Russell and his team-mate Oscar Piastri to secure pole position for tomorrow's Qatar F1 Spint. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo reports on the nail-biting short qualifying.
After Ferrari's Charles Leclerc set the benchmark in the sole free practice session earlier during the day, McLaren bounced back in sprint qualifying. Lando Norris topped the timesheets in the first two short qualifying segments on the mandatory medium rubber before going quickest on Pirelli's soft tyres in SQ3.
The McLaren driver set a 1m21.012s to claim pole position for the sixth and final sprint race of the season. However, his initial advantage shrank to just under a tenth, with Mercedes driver George Russell offering a close competition.
Although he looked mighty on his last qualifying lap, Oscar Piastri ended up third quickest, followed by the Ferrari duo of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.
The newly crowned Formula 1 four-time world champion Max Verstappen ended the day in P6, from Lewis Hamilton in P7.
The midfield battle was once again very closely-matched, with Pierre Gasly heading the pack after his engine-induced retirement at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Nico Hulkenberg completed another positive day for Haas in P9 while Liam Lawson brought up the rear of the top ten.
Aston Martin looked in better shape than in previous rounds, with Fernando Alonso securing P11 for tomorrow's Qatar F1 Sprint. Williams driver Alexander Albon narrowly beat Valtteri Bottas to take 12th, while Lance Stroll and Kevin Magnussen brought up the rear of the SQ2 field.
It was another tough day for Sergio Perez, with the Red Bull driver again suffering an early departure in P16. Yuki Tsunoda will likely be disappointed, too, having exited in P17 for RB.
Esteban Ocon hoped for better fortunes in Qatar, but he only took 18th while , Kick Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu and Franco Colapinto in the Williams ended up in 18th to 20th respectively.
