Lando Norris takes pole; Hamilton on front row in wet Sprint Qualifying at F1 Chinese GP

Lando Norris claimed P1 during Sprint Qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix in what proved to be a dramatic rain-affected session, with the Briton initially seeing his time deleted before it was reinstated.

It was a frenetic SQ3 segment as the top 10 batted with slippery conditions, resulting in the likes of Max Verstappen having some off-track moments. While Lewis Hamilton looked to have claimed pole position by the end of the eight-minute session, after Norris lost his time, the McLaren driver’s lap of 1m 57.940s was given back, putting him in P1.

Hamilton held onto P2, ahead of an impressive Fernando Alonso in third, while Verstappen ultimately took fourth. Carlos Sainz was the lead Ferrari in fifth, while Sergio Perez joins him on the third row in sixth.

Charles Leclerc took P7, having gone off track earlier in SQ3, with Oscar Piastri following in P8. The Kick Sauber duo of Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu enjoyed a good day to round out the top 10, marking a solid outing for Zhou in front of his home fans.

With rain starting to fall during the final moments of SQ2, George Russell was forced to abort his flying lap and ended the session in P11.

The Haas pair of Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg followed in 12th and 13th, with RB’s Daniel Ricciardo in 14th having also abandoned his final effort amid the rainfall. Lance Stroll was the final driver eliminated in SQ2 in 15th.

There was further disappointment for Alpine, with Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon exiting SQ1 in P16 and P17 respectively, ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon in P18.

Yuki Tsunoda was a surprise elimination after failing to improve on his time in the first segment of Sprint Qualifying, leaving the RB driver down in 19th, while the Williams of Logan Sargeant will join him on the back row in 20th place.

F1 Chinese GP 2024: Sprint Qualifying result

POS	NO	DRIVER	CAR	Q1	Q2	Q3	LAPS
1	4	Lando Norris	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:36.384	1:36.047	1:57.940	13
2	44	Lewis Hamilton	MERCEDES	1:37.181	1:36.287	1:59.201	15
3	14	Fernando Alonso	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	1:36.883	1:36.119	1:59.915	14
4	1	Max Verstappen	RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT	1:36.456	1:35.606	2:00.028	12
5	55	Carlos Sainz	FERRARI	1:36.719	1:36.052	2:00.214	15
6	11	Sergio Perez	RED BULL RACING HONDA RBPT	1:36.110	1:35.781	2:00.375	12
7	16	Charles Leclerc	FERRARI	1:36.537	1:35.711	2:00.566	15
8	81	Oscar Piastri	MCLAREN MERCEDES	1:36.542	1:35.853	2:00.990	15
9	77	Valtteri Bottas	KICK SAUBER FERRARI	1:37.112	1:36.056	2:01.044	16
10	24	Zhou Guanyu	KICK SAUBER FERRARI	1:37.544	1:36.307	2:03.537	16
11	63	George Russell	MERCEDES	1:37.310	1:36.345		10
12	20	Kevin Magnussen	HAAS FERRARI	1:37.033	1:36.473		10
13	27	Nico Hulkenberg	HAAS FERRARI	1:36.924	1:36.478		10
14	3	Daniel Ricciardo	RB HONDA RBPT	1:37.321	1:36.553		9
15	18	Lance Stroll	ASTON MARTIN ARAMCO MERCEDES	1:36.961	1:36.677		8
16	10	Pierre Gasly	ALPINE RENAULT	1:37.632			6
17	31	Esteban Ocon	ALPINE RENAULT	1:37.720			6
18	23	Alexander Albon	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:37.812			6
19	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB HONDA RBPT	1:37.892			6
20	2	Logan Sargeant	WILLIAMS MERCEDES	1:37.923			6

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