Norris survives treacherous conditions to secure pole for sprint in China

Lando Norris has qualified on pole position for Saturday's sprint race in China. The McLaren driver had a lap time deleted, but the stewards reinstated it. Lewis Hamilton was about to celebrate P1, but the stewards reinstated Norris' final lap time. Saturday's sprint race will feature a British front row, with Hamilton starting in P2. Max Verstappen will start fourth.

The final part of sprint qualifying started on a wet track, with rain still falling. Intermediate tyres were used for this eight-minute shootout. Norris and Leclerc explored the run-off zone on their out-laps. The Ferrari driver violently spun but avoided heavy contact with the wall.

Those drivers can't be heavily criticised for their mistakes, as the track was extremely slippy. Verstappen tiptoed around during his fast lap and still ran wide. Perez set the fastest time in the first run. The Mexican was nearly one second faster than the next fastest driver, Valtteri Bottas. Verstappen ruined his second lap as he ran wide at the final corner. The Dutchman ended up with the fourth-fastest time in his third run. The leaderboard turned into a fruit machine as drivers had lap times deleted and, in Norris' case, reinstated. Fernando Alonso rounded out the top three.

The first session ended under yellow flag conditions when a fire was spotted trackside. As had happened earlier in free practice one, the grass caught fire. This was likely due to a stray spark from an F1 car's skidblock. The delay to the start of SQ2 pushed that session into another wet weather window.

Home favourite Zhou Guanyu reached SQ3. The Stake F1 driver has completed two full seasons of Formula 1 before finally having his home race. The first meaningful session in China featuring a Chinese driver proved positive for the home crowd. His teammate, Valtteri Bottas, also made it into the final part of qualifying for the sprint race. The sprint race will occur on Saturday before qualifying for Sunday's Grand Prix. 

SQ1

Almost immediately, drivers reported rain, meaning the first laps were very important. Ferrari, McLaren and Mercedes were all able to complete laps early though George Russell was significantly behind his teammate Lewis Hamilton. However, the track did not show signs of worsening as Alonso set a purple time. Verstappen and then Perez went even faster. 

With five minutes remaining in the session, Esteban Ocon and Yuki Tsunoda joined the two Williams drivers in the drop zone. Russell also found himself in the drop zone after the Brit's slow first lap. Carlos Sainz sat just one place above the drop zone, but the Spaniard jumped up the leaderboard without much trouble. Under pressure, Russell went 12th fastest when he crossed the line. Neither Williams driver escaped from the drop zone. They were joined by both Alpine drivers and Yuki Tsunoda. His teammate, Daniel Ricciardo, made it through. Home favourite Zhou survived by the skin of his teeth. A yellow flag concluded the session due to another grass fire, similar to FP1.

Out - P20 Sargeant, P19 Tsunoda, P18 Albon, P17 Ocon, P16 Gasly

SQ2

The start of SQ2 was delayed as the track crew had to put out the fire, which pushed the sprint qualifying session into another wet weather window. Lando Norris left the pitlane slowly when the green light turned on, and the rest of the field followed with their elbows out. Red Bull and Mercedes sat in the garage for a little longer. Both teams made it around the circuit before the rain. The Dutchman went fastest, but Russell again found himself in trouble.

Both Haas drivers, Daniel Ricciardo and Lance Stroll, joined Russell in the drop zone. The Mercedes driver found himself behind both Stake F1 cars. Hamilton also wasn't safe. Russell couldn't find the improvements in the damp conditions. The situation did mean that home favourite Zhou and his teammate Valtteri Bottas were through to SQ3. 

Out - P15 Stroll, P14 Ricciardo, P13 Hulkenberg, P12 Magnussen, P11 Russell