Chinese GP

Lando Norris held his hands up as his own mistakes left the early championship leader qualifying down in sixth for the sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix.

After winning in Australia last weekend, Norris had been towing a fine line between admitting McLaren was the team to beat while also attempting to temper expectations of just how quick the car is.

Norris, whose team-mate Oscar Piastri will start the sprint from third, discussed on Thursday how the car does not suit his driving style but in Shanghai it was two small mistakes on both runs that left him off the pace in sprint qualifying.

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“I made a mistake. I locked up in the last corner,” he said. “But we’re just struggling a bit more now. Just not quick enough, simply. Struggling a lot with the car.

“It’s more on me rather than the car. I can’t make the car perfect. But, no, this was me just trying to just push a bit too much.

Lando Norris, McLaren

Photo by: Mark Thompson

“So [I] just need to back off a little bit and not try to push too much. I think the car’s still good and in a good window, maybe not good enough for pole. But we can definitely go forward.”

Norris pointed to the windy conditions across the Shanghai International Circuit as making the McLaren more difficult to drive.

“Our difficulties that we’ve been struggling with showed a lot more today. So nothing more than that, honestly. Just too many mistakes, it is just too difficult of a car to drive,” he added.

“I think just throughout the day we’ve been struggling a bit with the front locking and struggling a lot in the last corner with all the tailwinds. So it is kind of a lot more aligned with Bahrain [pre-season testing]. Just a lot windier when the wind’s blowing, then we struggle a lot more.

“So I think both myself and Oscar struggled more, clearly me more than him. So, yeah, just pushing a bit hard to try and make up for not quite being quick enough.”

Having looked by far the quickest squad, neither McLaren could hook up a fast enough lap in SQ3 as Lewis Hamilton took pole position for Ferrari with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen joining him on the front row.

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Piastri bemoaned the strategy to run earlier than their rivals in SQ3 but is still hopeful of a strong showing in Saturday’s sprint race.

“I think we were probably quick at the wrong points of it, unfortunately,” he said.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

“SQ1 and SQ2 felt good, and then SQ3, we tried something a bit different and went out much earlier and tried two laps, which I’m not sure was the best thing in the end, but I think it’s something we need to have a look at.

“I think the pace in the car is still very strong and I’m still confident to fight from third. It has been difficult, I think, with the track surface, it’s got a lot of grip, but it’s very peaky and I think it’s been pretty tough all day to just keep on top of the car.

“I honestly think we did a good job of trying to tame it for sprint qualifying, just maybe got the run plan a bit wrong.

“So it’s been an interesting challenge. The grip has been a lot better than last season, which is nice, and I think there’s some things we can do better tomorrow.”

Photos from Chinese GP – Practice & Sprint QU

In this article

Mark Mann-Bryans

Formula 1

Lando Norris

McLaren

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Hamilton “gobsmacked” as he gets first Ferrari sprint pole

Seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton says he is “a bit gobsmacked” after taking his first sprint pole of his nascent Ferrari era.

Hamilton came to Shanghai after a difficult weekend for both himself and Ferrari in Australia, only managing 10th in Melbourne through a lack of pace and poor strategy.

PLUS: Baptism of ire – how Hamilton’s Ferrari debut could have gone better

But the 40-year-old rebounded strongly in China by taking pole for Saturday’s first sprint race of the season in a new Shanghai track record, fending off reigning world champion Max Verstappen by 0.018 seconds, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri also within a tenth.

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“I didn’t expect that result, but so, so happy and so proud,” Hamilton said.

“Obviously, the last race was a disaster for us and clearly we knew that there was more performance in the car, but we just weren’t able to extract it.

“Coming here, the car really came alive from lap one. We made some great changes – the team did a fantastic job through the break to get the car ready.

“I’m a bit in shock. I can’t believe we actually got a pole in the sprint. It’s not the main race, so we’ve got work to do for tomorrow, but this puts us in good stead for the race.

“It’s amazing to see the number one as you stop and be in the red car. It’s pretty incredible.”

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Expanding on his qualifying effort to Sky Sports F1, Hamilton said that he wasn’t sure when Ferrari would be in a position to compete at the front given McLaren’s early dominance, and he was “gobsmacked” to already be able to fight with the Woking squad.

“I’m just a bit gobsmacked – I was a bit taken back by it,” he said.

“I didn’t know when we would get to this position and, after last weekend, it was a difficult start to the week.

“We came here with just aggression and wanting to go into the weekend and really get the car into a great place.

“I started out straight away with a better feeling in the car and I just can’t believe that we’re at the front and ahead of McLaren, which has been so fast throughout winter testing and obviously in the last race and even today.

“I’m really grateful just to be up there fighting with these great drivers and to be so close to these other teams.”

Hamilton explained he is still racing into the unknown for Saturday morning’s sprint as he hasn’t done a proper race run in dry conditions yet in the SF-25.

“I didn’t get to do a race run in Bahrain,” he said. “Obviously, we did the race last weekend in the wet, but tomorrow will be kind of my first real race run, and Sunday will be my first proper race run in the dry with this car.

“So, I’ll be learning. I’m hoping that we can hold on to it. But I think the McLarens are very, very, very fast, as is Max, but we’re in a good position.”

In this article

Filip Cleeren

Formula 1

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

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Hamilton “gobsmacked” as he gets first Ferrari sprint pole

Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton says he is “a bit in shock” after taking his first sprint pole of his nascent Ferrari era.

Hamilton came to Shanghai after a difficult weekend for both himself and Ferrari in Australia, only managing 10th in Melbourne through a lack of pace and poor strategy.

But the 40-year-old rebounded strongly in China by taking pole for Saturday’s first sprint race of the season in a new Shanghai track record, fending off reigning world champion Max Verstappen by 0.018s, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri also within a tenth.

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“I didn’t expect that result, but so, so happy and so proud,” Hamilton said. “Obviously, the last race was a disaster for us and clearly we knew that there was more performance in the car, but we just weren’t able to extract it. Coming here, the car really came alive from lap one. We made some great changes. The team did a fantastic job through the break to get the car ready.

“I’m a bit in shock. I can’t believe we actually got a pole in the sprint. It’s not the main race, so we’ve got work to do for tomorrow, but this puts us in good stead for the race. It’s amazing to see the number one as you stop and be in the red car. It’s pretty incredible.”

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Expanding on his qualifying effort to Sky Sports F1, he said that he had been unsure of when Ferrari would be in a position to compete at the front given McLaren’s early dominance, and he was “gobsmacked” to already be mixing it up with them at the front.

“I’m just a bit gobsmacked. I was a bit taken back by it,” he said. “I didn’t know when we would get to this position and after last weekend it was a difficult start to the week. We came here with just aggression and wanting to go into the weekend and really get the car into a great place. I started out straight away with a better feeling in the car and I just can’t believe that we’re at the front and ahead of McLaren, which has been so fast throughout winter testing and obviously in the last race and even today.

“I’m really grateful just to be up there fighting with these great drivers and to be so close to these other teams.”

Hamilton explained he is still racing into the unknown for Saturday morning’s sprint as he hasn’t done a proper race run on dry conditions yet in the SF-25.

“So, I’ll be learning. I’m hoping that we can hold on to it. But I think the McLarens are very, very, very fast, as is Max, but we’re in a good position. We’ll stay positive.”

In this article

Filip Cleeren

Formula 1

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

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Hamilton takes stunning first Ferrari pole for sprint race, Norris sixth

Lewis Hamilton announced his arrival at Ferrari by taking pole position for the Formula 1 sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix and is joined on the front row by old foe Max Verstappen.

McLaren had looked dominant until the third qualifying session, with Oscar Piastri third and Lando Norris down in sixth after making errors on both of his attempts.

Hamilton had been hooked up for the whole day and, having taken six grand prix poles and six victories in Shanghai, he will once again start from P1 with a lap record of 1m30.849s.

The seven-time world champion struggled on his Ferrari debut in Australia but looked much more at home and will be hoping to convert pole to sprint victory on Saturday.

Verstappen, who finished second in Melbourne, starts on the front row following his own fine lap, while Charles Leclerc is fourth for Ferrari.

The Mercedes pair of George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli will be disappointed to only be fifth and seventh, respectively, while Yuki Tsunoda, Alex Albon and Lance Stroll rounded out the top 10.

Lando Norris, McLaren, Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

It had appeared the McLarens were vying with one another to take pole but Piastri’s best effort was ultimately beaten by both Hamilton and Verstappen while two small mistakes cost Norris a shot at being further up the field.

The second Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso will start the sprint race 11th with Oliver Bearman impressing for Haas by taking 12th ahead of Carlos Sainz, Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar.

While Norris ran wide on his first SQ1 run, Piastri took half a second out of the Ferraris who had been sitting at the top of the timesheets.

However, it was another tough session for the second Red Bull of Liam Lawson, who was plum last and over a second and a half off SQ1 pace-setter Hamilton having had a lap time deleted.

Both Alpines were also eliminated in SQ1, Jack Doohan beating Pierre Gasly for 16th, while Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg were slower than their respective rookie team-mates down in 18th and 19th.

F1 Chinese GP – Sprint qualifying results

In this article

Mark Mann-Bryans

Formula 1

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

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F1 2025 qualifying head-to-head: Chinese GP

After every F1 qualifying session, Motorsport.com publishes each team’s qualifying record in terms of team-mate battles.

This record is based exclusively on qualifying results so that grid penalties don’t alter the statistics.

When a driver can’t put in a representative lap time due to a technical issue or an incident, this will be mentioned in the table.

McLaren

Oscar Piastri	1-1 (0-1 without sprints)	LANDO NORRIS
2 (+0.084s in Q3)	Australia	1
3	China (sprint)	6 (+0.464s in SQ3)

Oscar Piastri

1-1

(0-1 without sprints)

LANDO NORRIS

(+0.084s in Q3)

Australia

China (sprint)

(+0.464s in SQ3)

Ferrari

CHARLES LECLERC	1-1 (1-0 without sprints)	LEWIS HAMILTON
7	Australia	8 (+0.218s in Q3)
4 (+0.208s in SQ3)	China (sprint)	1

CHARLES LECLERC

1-1

(1-0 without sprints)

LEWIS HAMILTON

Australia

(+0.218s in Q3)

(+0.208s in SQ3)

China (sprint)

Red Bull

max verstappen	2-0 (1-0 without sprints)	liam lawson
3	Australia	18 (+1.076s in Q1)
2	China (sprint)	20 (+0.813s in SQ1)

max verstappen

2-0

(1-0 without sprints)

liam lawson

Australia

(+1.076s in Q1)

China (sprint)

(+0.813s in SQ1)

Mercedes

george russell	2-0 (1-0 without sprints)	andrea kimi antonelli
4	Australia	16 (+0.554s in Q1 – car damage)
5	China (sprint)	7 (+0.569s in SQ3)

george russell

2-0

(1-0 without sprints)

andrea kimi antonelli

Australia

(+0.554s in Q1 – car damage)

China (sprint)

(+0.569s in SQ3)

Aston Martin

LANCE STROLL	1-1 (0-1 without sprints)	FERNANDO ALONSO
13 (+0.030s in Q2)	Australia	12
10	China (sprint)	11 (+0.073s in SQ2)

LANCE STROLL

1-1

(0-1 without sprints)

FERNANDO ALONSO

(+0.030s in Q2)

Australia

China (sprint)

(+0.073s in SQ2)

Alpine

PIERRE GASLY	1-1 (1-0 without sprints)	JACK DOOHAN
9	Australia	14 (+0.751s in Q2)
17 (+0.065s in SQ1)	China (sprint)	16

PIERRE GASLY

1-1

(1-0 without sprints)

JACK DOOHAN

Australia

(+0.751s in Q2)

(+0.065s in SQ1)

China (sprint)

Haas

ESTEBAN OCON	1-1 (1-0 without sprints)	OLIVER BEARMAN
19	Australia	– (no lap time – technical issue)
18 (+0.382s in SQ1)	China (sprint)	12

ESTEBAN OCON

1-1

(1-0 without sprints)

OLIVER BEARMAN

Australia

–

(no lap time – technical issue)

(+0.382s in SQ1)

China (sprint)

Racing Bulls

ISACK HADJAR	0-2 (0-1 without sprints)	YUKI TSUNODA
11 (+0.166s in Q2)	Australia	5
15 (no lap time)	China (sprint)	8

ISACK HADJAR

0-2

(0-1 without sprints)

YUKI TSUNODA

(+0.166s in Q2)

Australia

(no lap time)

China (sprint)

Williams

ALEXANDER ALBON	2-0 (1-0 without sprints)	CARLOS SAINZ
6	Australia	10 (+0.325s in Q3)
9	China (sprint)	13 (+0.786s in SQ2)

ALEXANDER ALBON

2-0

(1-0 without sprints)

CARLOS SAINZ

Australia

(+0.325s in Q3)

China (sprint)

(+0.786s in SQ2)

Sauber

NICO HULKENBERG	0-2 (0-1 without sprints)	GABRIEL BORTOLETO
17 (+0.063s in Q1)	Australia	15
19 (+0.136s in SQ1)	China (sprint)	14

NICO HULKENBERG

0-2

(0-1 without sprints)

GABRIEL BORTOLETO

(+0.063s in Q1)

Australia

(+0.136s in SQ1)

China (sprint)

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Hamilton beats Verstappen by 0.018s for sprint pole

Lewis Hamilton announced his arrival at Ferrari by taking pole position for the sprint race at the Chinese Grand Prix and will be joined on the front row by old foe Max Verstappen.

McLaren had looked dominant until the third segment of sprint qualifying, with Oscar Piastri third and Lando Norris down in sixth after making errors on both of his attempts.

Hamilton had been hooked up for the whole day and, having taken six grand prix poles and six victories in Shanghai, will once again start from P1, having set a new track record of 1m30.849s.

The seven-time world champion struggled on his Ferrari debut in Australia but has looked much more at home in China and will be hoping to convert pole to sprint victory on Saturday.

Verstappen, who finished second in Melbourne, starts on the front row following his own fine lap, while Charles Leclerc is fourth for Ferrari.

The Mercedes pair of George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli will be disappointed to only be fifth and seventh, respectively, while Yuki Tsunoda, Alex Albon and Lance Stroll rounded out the top 10.

The second Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso will start the sprint race 11th, with Oliver Bearman impressing for Haas by taking 12th ahead of Carlos Sainz, Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar.

While Norris ran wide on his first SQ1 run, Piastri took half a second out of the Ferraris who had been sitting at the top of the timesheets.

However, it was another tough session for the second Red Bull of Liam Lawson, who was plum last and over a second and a half off SQ1 pacesetter Hamilton, having had a lap time deleted.

Both Alpines were also eliminated in SQ1, Jack Doohan beating Pierre Gasly for 16th, while Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg were slower than their respective rookie team-mates down in 18th and 19th.

F1 Chinese GP – Sprint qualifying results

Photos from Chinese GP – Practice & Sprint QU

In this article

Mark Mann-Bryans

Formula 1

Lewis Hamilton

Ferrari

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Race our Writers! First sprint weekend, fresh fantasy challenges

After the rain wreaked havoc on track – and on F1 Fantasy teams – in Australia last weekend, the season rolls onto Shanghai and brings with it a first sprint race of the year.

As predicted, Motorsport Network teams got off to a rocky start as Joshua Fernandes set the pace as the first leader of the inaugural Motorsport: Race our Writers league, which currently has over 31,000 players.

With it being a sprint weekend, opting to play the right chips could be critical for a good score especially if the 3x DRS boost leads to strong points in both the sprint race and the grand prix itself.

Despite not leading the pack, we think we can still offer up some expert insight into what will play out in China – will Lando Norris extend his lead, or can McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri prise away the points? Maybe another team could emerge as candidates for success?

Banking on Bortoleto

Haydn Cobb, Editor, Autosport.com, ‘Signal, Sainz, Manoeuvre’: “After a nightmare start to the season it was tempting for wholesale changes but given the wet and wild Australian GP I am hoping normal service resumes this weekend.

“That’s why I’ve made one minor tweak by bringing in Gabriel Bortoleto to replace Oliver Bearman. Haas is suffering for pace unexpectedly, while Sauber aren’t cut adrift at the back this year and up until his crash Bortoleto was excelling alongside Nico Hulkenberg.

Gabriel Bortoleto, Sauber

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

“If Bortoleto can follow that up with a solid result in China, and my star drivers and teams are able to perform this time around, I’m optimistic the damage of Australia can be undone.”

No knee-jerk reaction

Sam Shephard, Director of Digital, ‘You Can’t Park There Mate’: “I’m resisting the urge to make any knee-jerk changes to my line-up this week. Oscar Piastri and McLaren still feel like must-haves given the Australian’s price point and how dominant the Woking-based outfit looked Down Under.

“I’m also sticking with Carlos Sainz over Alex Albon in the hope that the more experienced Spaniard can stay out of trouble in China and with Williams looking like a proper midfield contender this year, there should be more points up for grabs.

“The rest of my squad is made up of Esteban Ocon, Hulkenberg and Yuki Tsunoda who all managed to finish in tricky conditions last week and impressed in moments.

“One driver this team manager will be keeping a close eye on his Kimi Antonelli – if the rookie continues to impress – I could well be tempted to make room for the young Italian.”

For those already in the league, make sure to make your changes before Sprint Qualifying.

Then check back on Motorsport.com and on our social channels on Monday to see who the winners and losers from the Chinese Grand Prix.

Still yet to join our league? It is not too late! Join HERE.

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In this article

Mark Mann-Bryans

Formula 1

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Alpine, Haas make wing tweaks after China F1 flex test changes

Alpine and Haas have revealed they have needed to make changes to their Formula 1 cars’ rear wings in light of the latest technical directive that has tightened flex tests.

It is understood that four teams were affected by the changing parameters of the rear wing flex tests for the Chinese Grand Prix as the FIA felt that a series of pre-season changes to tighten up the tests for the Melbourne round did not go far enough.

Ahead of the season, a rule was introduced to the technical regulations stating that, if 75kg of vertical load is applied on either extremity of the rear wing mainplane, the slot gap must not change by more than 2mm.

This was changed for China with the addition of a technical directive, and this limit was reduced to 0.5mm. For Shanghai, this came with a 0.25mm tolerance, which will be removed for the Japanese Grand Prix.

Alpine’s racing director Dave Greenwood conceded that the Enstone squad was one of the teams that needed to make changes to its wing geometry to ensure the slot gap remained static.

Greenwood did not wish to expand on the specifics of the changes to the wing, but lauded the team for following the regulations in such a short space of time.

“There’s a change in that [technical directive] for this weekend, and we’ve complied on both occasions,” Greenwood explained.

“We’ve had to do some work back at the factory to make sure we were in the correct place here, but I think that’s fairly normal in these situations when a rule and an allowance of deflection changes, you need to check that you are going to be able to comply with that as well.

“There’s work that needs to go on to to make sure it’s compliant, but that’s been done and we are there.

“I think you can imagine the timescales were very small, so it’s not like you can do something revolutionary, but yeah, there are things we can do to make sure we comply.”

Haas team principal Ayao Komatsu revealed that his squad was also partly affected by the changes, stating that “we may have to change a little bit how we set up the wing, but not the design or anything”.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

McLaren denied that it was one of the teams affected by the technical directive, particularly as the outfit was arguably the biggest proponent of using the slot gap to dump drag in straight lines – as demonstrated by its ‘mini-DRS’ in Baku last year.

Its technical director of engineering Neil Houldey stated that the wing deflection the team had experienced was already less than the figure the FIA implemented for the China weekend.

“Luckily, when we were tested in Melbourne and the numbers that the FIA chose to put in the TD are higher than the deflection that we’d seen,” said Houldey.

“It’s had absolutely no impact on us at this event, so the performance should be no different for us.”

When asked about the lower-downforce wing, run briefly in Melbourne practice, he added: “I think we’ll be OK with that one. That one hasn’t been through the same process as the the high-downforce one that we’re running now.

“The expectation is that again we’re not going to be losing performance from the TD as we go further into the season either.

“We would certainly struggle [if the team had to make changes in one week], so it’s fortunate that we were in the position that we were and didn’t have to make any changes.

“I don’t know how other teams have managed it, but maybe there are set-up changes that they’ve been able to make that don’t require new components, or maybe they’ve had to make something incredibly quickly to get it here and become legal.”

In this article

Jake Boxall-Legge

Formula 1

Haas F1 Team

Alpine

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F1 drivers given clarification about swearing in “quite fair” Australia FIA discussion

Formula 1 drivers have been given further clarification by the FIA on the recent tightening of rules surrounding inappropriate language, following concerns triggered by the wording of the initial guidance.

Tensions around the issue escalated further after Hyundai World Rally Championship driver Adrien Fourmaux was fined €10,000 – with an additional €20,000 suspended – for using inappropriate language during a live TV interview at Rally Sweden.

The incident prompted a backlash within the rallying community and has led to an ongoing protest by WRC drivers, who have refused to speak to TV crews post-stage or are conducting interviews only in their native languages.

Ahead of the 2025 season, the FIA introduced new regulations outlining penalties for the use of inappropriate language. According to the updated Article 12 of the FIA International Sporting Code, a first offence would result in a €40,000 fine. A second offence would carry an €80,000 fine along with a one-month suspension, while a third offence would lead to a €120,000 fine, a further one-month suspension, and a deduction of championship points.

While the FIA’s approach is understood to be consistent across championships – allowing emotional language in the car if not offensive, and prohibiting swearing during interviews – the key difference appears to lie in how the rules were communicated to competitors.

In F1, the matter was addressed during the usual Friday drivers’ briefing ahead of the Australian Grand Prix, where Garry Connelly – who served as the chairman of the stewards – spoke to the group to explain how the guidelines will be interpreted going forward.

Autosport understands that Connelly presented two key scenarios to the drivers. In the first, concerning in-car communication between drivers and their teams, the FIA clarified that it will tolerate strong language used in the heat of the moment – as long as it is not offensive to others, including race officials or fellow competitors.

However, the second scenario – concerning media obligations – was treated differently. If foul language is used during interviews, such as in the TV pen, press conferences or written media sessions, it will be considered a breach of the regulations and reported to the stewards by race direction.

It is understood that several drivers raised follow-up questions during the meeting, asking for examples from the past and clarifications on how certain situations would be interpreted. The overall conclusion was that the group left relatively satisfied, with the rules now considered clearer.

Ocon feels rules have now been explained in a clear way

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Haas driver Esteban Ocon, speaking in Shanghai this weekend, said: “The FIA, the stewards, they came and basically specified on what was allowed, what was not allowed, and I think, honestly, it was a quite fair discussion that we had, very open.

“The FIA are not there to punish us for no reason, so if in the heat of the moment some bad words come between engineering and ourselves, that would be OK, basically.

“That’s what they said. But obviously if you insult someone, that’s a different case, but that’s normal. We have to behave, we are on air all the time, [it’s] live TV.

“It’s important for us to be [role] models for the younger generation. But from what we had in Melbourne, the discussion, I think we were all quite scared before – I think now it’s quite clear and I think it’s quite fair, the discussion we had.

“I don’t know what the World Rally [Championship] guys had. Probably very different answers to their questions, and that’s probably why they’re not happy. But on our side, in Formula 1, I think it’s much more clear now and quite fair.”

Carlos Sainz, who recently replaced Sebastian Vettel as director of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, praised Connelly’s approach and agreed that the rules are now “very clear”.

“I think Garry was incredibly helpful in trying to explain to us the way the FIA was going to approach the situation,” he said, “and I really appreciate common sense and, this time, I must say common sense prevailed. And for me, it was very clear, very understandable, and we can hopefully move on from that.”

The difference with the WRC appears to be that the drivers may feel that the rules have not yet been explained to them as clearly as to their Formula 1 counterparts. There is also a belief within the rallying community that their circumstances are different, as post-stage interviews are often conducted with the drivers still in the car, shortly after the completion of a stage.

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Norris sets blistering pace in sole practice session, Leclerc second