Formula 1 ®
Norris takes pole with deleted lap reinstated bumping LCH to second El Machismo third and Max fourth.
In wet and mixed conditions at the Shanghai International Circuit, Norris finished 1.2 seconds clear of Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton in an all-British front row for Saturday’s 19-lap dash.
Hamilton looked to have taken top spot after Norris’ best lap was deleted by the stewards only for it then to be reinstated.
Machismo went into SQ3 in 8th spot but with the changing condition was able to make his tyres work to grab the third spot whilst his team mate Lance Stroll could only qualify 15th for the Sprint race.
Max Verstappen who finished fourth and will have to fight from the second row tomorrow for the sprint race said: “It never really switched on for me.
“It was just like driving on ice, that is why also I think we deserved where we are in qualifying, it isn’t really working for me in the wet but it is not where we are in the dry.
“It is not ideal to start on the inside here. We have to try and have the best start possible and then I think it will be quite a long stint on one tyres in the sprint.”
Fernando Alonso, who finished third in sprint race qualifying, speaking to Sky Sports: “We were not super competitive on the dry. In the wet it was difficult to judge the level of grip and risk we wanted to apply but in the end I am happy.
“We have a lot of racing laps in the weekend with the sprint race tomorrow and the race on Sunday. Let’s see if we can qualify well for Sunday’s race tomorrow and then we will see.”
Zhou Guanyu secured a place in the top 10 for tomorrow’s sprint race in a dream start to his home race weekend.
“We will give everything,” he told Sky Sports after sprint qualifying. “I am just happy with the first day and great to have everyone here. “The pressure before the weekend was so extreme, like I felt when I made my debut. Everyone is here and that is when you want to do well.”
Fernando
QUALIFYING P3
“It was quite a stressful Sprint Qualifying. In SQ1 we were looking at the radar and checking if the rain was coming. We progressed and safely made it into SQ3 in eighth position before it rained more heavily. As the conditions changed, we were quite competitive. The tyres seemed to improve with each lap, but the circuit was just getting worse with the rainfall increasing. It was difficult to judge the level of grip and how much risk to take. We have the two races now, so let’s see if we can score some points in the Sprint and qualify well for Sunday.”
LCH
It was very tricky conditions out there. As you could see, there was not a lot of grip out there for anyone. As soon as I saw the rain coming though, I was getting very excited. Our pace in the dry didn’t look quite quick enough to challenge at the very front, so the wet weather gave us more of an opportunity. That’s when it all came alive.
We will have to wait and see what the conditions are tomorrow. We have a lot of fast cars starting behind us, but we will see what we can do to keep them behind us.
MAX
““It was incredibly slippery out there and I struggled a lot to get the temperature in the tyres, that’s why it was very difficult to keep the car on track. The car never really switched on for me and it was like driving on ice, which is why I think we deserved where we finished in Sprint Qualifying. It wasn’t really working for me in the wet, even though I think in the dry the car was quite good and I was quite happy with that. It doesn’t always go as planned but it’s not like you have to start on the inside here, there will be low grip for everyone due to the paint on the tarmac here and so we have to try and have the best start possible. I think it is going to be quite a long stint on one set of tyres for the Sprint but I think that that will make it quite interesting.”
