Lando Norris Claims Pole Position for Sprint at Qatar Grand Prix
Lando Norris has surged to pole position for the Sprint at the Qatar Grand Prix, topping every segment of a busy Sprint Qualifying session. George Russell disrupted what looked to be a McLaren front row lockout by securing second place.
Norris set the pace in both SQ1 and SQ2, then delivered an impressive lap of 1m 21.012s in SQ3, a benchmark that remained unbeaten as competitors made their attempts to improve. Oscar Piastri appeared poised to start alongside his teammate in P2, but Russell’s late effort placed him just 0.063s behind Norris, pushing Piastri down to third.
Carlos Sainz took fourth for Ferrari after a late push, followed by Charles Leclerc in fifth. Reigning world champion Max Verstappen qualified sixth for Red Bull, with Lewis Hamilton in seventh for Mercedes. Pierre Gasly had another strong performance, finishing eighth for Alpine, while Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) and Liam Lawson (Red Bull) rounded out the top ten.
Fernando Alonso narrowly missed the top-10 shootout, ending up 11th, just ahead of Alex Albon. Valtteri Bottas had a solid session for Kick Sauber, while Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Kevin Magnussen (Haas) finished 14th and 15th, respectively.
Sergio Perez faced another difficult day, exiting in P16 for Red Bull, while Yuki Tsunoda followed him in P17. Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Zhou Guanyu (Kick Sauber), and Franco Colapinto (Williams) completed the elimination zone from 18th to 20th.
