McLaren’s Lando Norris has secured pole for Saturday’s Formula 1 sprint event in Shanghai after a chaotic rain-affected session.
Norris was second behind Sergio Perez in the dry SQ1 and was then fifth in an SQ2 session that saw rain in the closing minutes.
On a full wet track he emerged on top of SQ3 despite briefly losing his time after running wide at the final corner.
The lap was quickly reinstated, leaving the McLaren driver ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Max Verstappen, the World Champion having endured an unusually tricky session.
“I was quick, I just kept catching the Ferrari, so I had to keep backing off,” said Norris after the session.
“So I didn’t do the first few laps well at all. I got a good final one, a good enough one for pole. I’m happy, sad, it’s not for proper qualifying, but good enough.
“You only have three laps, the first two I aborted on both, so the last lap was all or nothing. But it was getting wetter and wetter. So actually, the conditions of the final two laps were a lot worse, the second lap at least.
“I was a little bit nervous that I made a few mistakes, started to aquaplane quite a bit. But it’s good fun. It gets your heart going, and to end up on top is exactly what we wanted. So a nice surprise, and a good position for tomorrow.”
With teams having only had FP1 to prepare prior to the qualifying session Norris acknowledged that Saturday’s sprint will be a step into the unknown.
“Not a clue,” he said when asked what he expects. “We did some of our homework this morning, we did some consecutive laps to try and understand, but it depends what the weather is. There’s still a chance of rain tomorrow. So if it’s like this, then I think the chances are relatively decent.
“But the race is still very different to qualifying. So I’m sure everyone’s going to catch up a bit tomorrow.
“The pace is good, whether it’s wet or dry. And I think we’re in a good position. So a bit of a surprise, like I said. But I’m very happy, the team has done a good job, the car’s feeling good. And so am I, and it’s paying off.”
Adam Cooper F1 