Russell poised to take advantage of McLaren and Ferrari’s title fight in sprint race · RaceFans

With Lando Norris’s of faint hopes of overcoming Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship finally extinguished last weekend in Las Vegas, McLaren has turned its focus on securing its first constructors’ title for a generation in Qatar.

While they cannot defeat Ferrari in today’s sprint race, they can definitely put their rivals in check – and their grid positions offer the opportunity to do exactly that.

Both McLaren drivers sit ahead of the Ferraris on the grid, with Norris on pole position and Oscar Piastri lining up third. Ferrari had looked as if they could challenge McLaren at the very front of the field after Charles Leclerc was quickest in the only practice session of the weekend, but that promising pace did not translate in qualifying as he and Carlos Sainz Jnr ended up only fourth and fifth on the sprint race grid.

“Our practice performance was better than expected, so our hopes were that we could finish sprint qualifying in good positions, given that this weekend is such an important one for us,” said Leclerc. “Unfortunately, we didn’t and P4 and P5 is all that was possible.”

With Ferrari not looking as strong as they expected to be and McLaren more focused on the bigger picture than just winning a sprint race, one driver has nothing to lose in going for the win – George Russell. Starting alongside Norris on the front row, Russell said he will “definitely” be going for the win in the sprint race. But after Piastri won last year’s sprint race, Russell cannot expect that the McLarens will simply open the door for him to waltz through to victory.

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Weather

Starting at 5pm local time, today’s sprint race will begin as the sun sets, unlike Sunday’s Grand Prix, which will take place entirely in darkness. That means the temperatures will be slightly warmer than qualifying and the grand prix itself – but only by a matter of a degree or two.

The earlier start time also means that winds are likely to be higher than they will be for the final two sessions of the weekend. The Formula 2 drivers found the wind challenging during their practice session held earlier in the day on Friday, but the heavier F1 cars might prove more stable.

Start

Last year’s sprint race saw the two McLarens sharing the front row with Piastri ahead of his team mate. But Norris had an all-too-familiar sluggish start and was immediately…