The Englishman Lando Norris (McLaren) will start first this Saturday in the sprint test of the Qatar Grand Prix, the penultimate of the Formula 1 World Championship, which is held at the Lusail circuit, where the Spanish Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) will start fourth.
Norris will occupy first place on the grid for the short test – about a third of the distance of the long test, that is: 19 laps for just over 102 kilometers – having dominated this Friday’s qualification, the ‘sprint shootout’, in which in his third and final round (SQ3) he covered, with the mandatory soft tire, the 5,419 meters of the Qatari track in one minute, 21 seconds and twelve thousandths, 63 less than his compatriot George Russell (Mercedes).
Fernando Alonso will face the short race from eleventh position
Sainz will start fourth, after being 269 thousandths behind Norris, second in a World Cup that has already been won by the Dutchman Max Verstappen (Red Bull), who last Sunday was mathematically proclaimed four-time world champion in Las Vegas (USA) and who will start sixth this year. Saturday.
The talented driver from Madrid, third last Sunday in Las Vegas, will start from the second row next to the other McLaren, that of the Australian Oscar Piastri, third in qualifying this Friday.
Monegasque Charles Leclerc, Sainz’s teammate, starts fifth, next to Verstappen, from the third row; just ahead of the seven-time English world champion Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) – seventh this Friday – and the Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Alpine).
The German Nico Hülkenberg (Haas) and the New Zealander Liam Lawson (RB) – tenth in the time trial – will start from the fifth row, just ahead of the Spanish double world champion Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), eliminated in the second round (SQ2), who will face the short race from eleventh position.
The Mexican Sergio Pérez (Red Bull) and the Argentine Franco Colapinto (Williams), who were eliminated in the first act (SQ1), will start from sixteenth and twentieth place, respectively.
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