Lando Norris happy to beat Ferrari in Chinese Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying

Ferrari seemed to be the second-best team behind Mercedes in SQ1 and SQ2 of Sprint Qualifying, but McLaren emerged in SQ3 with Norris taking third behind polesitter George Russell and second-placed Kimi Antonelli. Oscar Piastri was fifth.

"I'm just happy with the result," the reigning Formula 1 Champion said after qualifying. "I've not seen what I've lost or gained or whatever [in energy deployment]. P3 is as good as we can be for the time being.

"Actually pretty happy to beat both of the Ferraris today because they seem pretty good the whole day.

"Satisfied, good position for tomorrow," he added. "Certainly things have been better this weekend just because the track's more simple from that side of things, from a power unit side of things, so everyone falls in line a bit more."

With the new power units, mastering the race starts has been tricky so far, with Mercedes struggling with theirs, and Norris was asked if he can take advantage.

"I don't expect them to get bad starts, to be honest," Norris responded. "It's an opportunity for sure. I think they know what they did wrong last weekend in Melbourne, and they'll probably be fine.

"But you never know; it's a good opportunity. The easiest place to overtake is off the line, so we'll see what we can do," he concluded.

Piastri reflected on his qualifying for the Chinese GP Sprint and said: "It was reasonable. The step in grip from the medium to the soft was pretty big, but the gap to Mercedes was pretty impressive, so some things to try and work on.

"The car felt good. It was a decent lap, and I don't think there was too much left. Sector 1 we seemed good, but six tenths [loss] in the last sector is impressive," he added.

As for McLaren Team Principal Andrea Stella, he summed up his team's session saying: "There are some indications of improvements, especially in the way we understand how to use the power unit. There was less variability in practice and more clarity as to how we use it in qualifying.

"At the moment, Mercedes are out of reach, but it's good to see McLaren can fight for the runners-up position, together with Ferrari.

"It's a good situation for the Sprint tomorrow," the Italian concluded. (Source: Sky Sports F1)