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Lando Norris won the pole for Saturday's Formula 1 Sprint Race in Qatar. (McLaren photo)

Norris Nips Russell For Qatar Sprint Pole

LOSAIL, Qatar — McLaren driver Lando Norris claimed the pole for Saturday’s Sprint Race at the Qatar Grand Prix during Friday’s qualifying session.

Bouncing back from a subpar result at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, Norris turned a best lap of 1 minute and 31.012 seconds to earn the top spot by a mere .063 seconds over Mercedes ace George Russell, who is coming off a victory last week in Las Vegas.

 

“It’s tough because it’s so quick around here. It feels like the quickest circuit of the year. The final sector — you’re just hanging on, you know,” Norris said. “It’s a great qualifying today, especially to bounce back from where we were last time out in Vegas, it’s a nice thing to do — so [I’m] happy.

“It was a decent lap, I made too many mistakes on my second, but we were coming here to get pole and we did that, so job done for today.”

Russell was pleased with his team’s effort.

“Today we had a really strong session during SQ3,” Russell explained. “The car was feeling great and this circuit is one of the best with the high speed corners. For my final lap, I was able to go flat through these for the first time this weekend which resulted in me confusing the engine a little, so I lost a bit of time on the exit. Ultimately, Lando was a smidge out of reach today and I don’t think we could have secured P1 even without this slight loss.”

Norris’ McLaren teammate, Oscar Piastri was third on the grid, while Ferrari drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc completed the top five.

Max Verstappen, who secured his fourth consecutive Formula 1 title in Las Vegas, was sixth for Red Bull, ahead of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.

Pierre Gasly was eighth for Alpine, while Haas F1’s Nico Hulkenberg and Liam Lawson rounded out the top 10.