#ChineseGP Sprint Qualifying: @LandoNorris beats @LewisHamilton to pole. #F1

Norris Chinese Sprint Pole – McLaren’s Lando Norris pipped Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton to take pole for tomorrow’s 100 kilometre Sprint race at the Chinese GP after the former’s lap-time was initially deleted before being re-instated as Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso took third and championship leader Max Verstappen starts fourth.

As the rain emerged at the end of SQ2 and continued to soak the Shanghai International Circuit during the intermission necessitating the use of the green side-walled Intermediate tyre – in SQ3, the wet and slippery conditions caused several drivers to slip off the track including McLaren’s Lando Norris, who went off at turn six and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc suffered a spin at turn eight into the gravel and hit the wall.

Leclerc managed to recover his SF-24 entry, damage-free and returned to the pits for a new front wing and a fresh set of Intermediates.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri registered the first hot-lap of the session above the two-minute mark, which was beaten by Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, as the Mexican lead the line to begin with.

Then Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso demoted the Mexican, setting a 2:00.213 to ensure could be in the battle for pole, but this was beaten by Mercedes’ Sir Lewis Hamilton who posted a sub 120 second tour, with a 1:59.321.

Norris had suffered an off-track excursion prior to his ripping 1:57.940, but this was initially invalidated as the timing sensors noted the McLaren driver had gone off at the final corner – which usually prompts the lap-time to be scrubbed off the time-sheets.

Hamilton, therefore, looked set for pole and a 1:59.201 follow-up look appeared to secure that, but Norris’ effort was re-instated and ensured an all-British front row lockout for tomorrow’s 100 kilometre Sprint.

Alonso was third quickest over Red Bull’s Verstappen, who endured another wayward of scary moments before finally stringing a clean flyer in with his final effort of the eight-minute session.

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Leclerc were fifth and seventh respectively as Red Bull’s Sergio Perez split the duo in sixth.

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri placed eighth and ahead of Sauber pairing Valtteri Bottas and home favourite Zhou Guanyu who completed the top ten.

In the second sprint qualifying stage, which was topped by Verstappen, a fire erupted at the end of SQ1 at turn five and caused a delay to the start of SQ2 for it be exhausted.

When the session began, the threat of rain imminent, meaning the drivers hurried out on track to post a flying lap before it came in.

As the rain got heavier, Mercedes’ George Russell aborted his hot-lap and failed to make it into SQ3 by a very narrow 0.038 seconds to home favourite Zhou sending the crowd into raptures, meaning the Briton will start tomorrow’s Sprint 11^th and ahead of Haas F1 Team pairing Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg who were 12^th and 13^th respectively.

RB’s Daniel Ricciardo and Aston Martin were the slowest of the SQ2 runners in 14^th and 15^th.

In the opening segment, which was topped by Perez, Alpine drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon will start the 100 kilometre Sprint in 16^th and 17^th respectively with the former missing out on SQ2 by a slim 0.088 seconds.

Williams Racing’s Alexander Albon and Logan Sargeant placed 18^th and at the rear whilst RB’s Tsunoda split the two FW46 entries in 19^th.

You can see the full Formula 1 Lenovo Chinese Grand Prix 2024 Sprint Qualifying Results Classification at the link: https://www.formula1.com/en/results.html/2024/races/1233/china/sprint-qualifying.html

2024 Chinese GP Sprint Qualifying Pole Position – Lando Norris, #4, McLaren Formula 1 Team-Mercedes, MCL38, 1:57.940

“I’m extremely happy first of all. It was tricky, you are always nervous going into a session like this. You just have to risk a lot, push and build tyre temperature and what not. I’m happy, sad it’s not for a proper qualifying, but good enough. You only get three laps. The first two I aborted on both, so it was all or nothing, a good position for tomorrow.”

#ChineseGP FP1: @lance_stroll pips @OscarPiastri by 0.327s. #F1

#F1 Lenovo #ChineseGP 2024 Preview. #Formula1 #ChinaGP