LANDO NORRIS KNOCKED OUT THE COMPETITION

Lando Norris did his best in the rain in China and was the fastest driver in the sprint qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix.

The Briton has emerged in front of three champions, and he will share the first starting row for the sprint with Lewis Hamilton, who at one point thought he would finally be in the first position, but Norris' deleted time was reinstated by the stewards.

Fernando Alonso was third, and will share the second row with Max Verstappen, ahead of Carlos Sainz Jr. and Sergio Perez on the third.

As last year in the so-called Sprint Shootout, which was held on Saturday morning instead of Friday afternoon, the duration of the sessions was 12, 10 and 8 minutes.

In SQ1, there were no surprises, although George Russell saved himself at the last minute from being dropped.

Sergio Perez was the fastest. The two Williams cars were eliminated, with Alex Albon ahead of Logan Sargent, the two Alpine cars, with Pierre Gasly ahead of Esteban Ocon.

Fifth to join them was Yuki Tsunoda, who had a very disappointing performance in this first important session of the weekend. After losing to Daniel Ricciardo for the first time in the season so far.

Like the first practice session, there was again a fire on the grass by the sixth turn, which led to a delay in the start of SQ2.

With a 60% chance of rain, everyone eagerly lined up in the pit lane for the start of the second segment of today's sprint qualifying.

Rain appeared at the end of SQ2 and this led to an interesting order and placement of the Sauber drivers in the final shootout.

George Russell and the fastest in the only practice session, Lance Stroll, were the losers, while their teammates easily placed in the top 10 drivers.

The drivers of Haas, Kevin Magnussen, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Daniel Ricciardo with the RB car, were unable to do anything more.

This time Verstappen was the fastest, and Charles Leclerc split the two Red Bull cars.

The rain was getting heavier so the final shootout in the SQ3 session took place on Pirelli's green intermediate tires and with full tanks for more laps.

The first lap was a cautious one, for all but Hamilton, who went all out from the start. The Briton started later than the rest and the first lap gave him the lead. Only Norris bested Lewis' time, although the young Briton's lap was deleted, only to be reinstated.

That decision by the stewards gave Lando Norris the deserved first position for tomorrow's sprint. He was the only one who risked more than necessary, but the McLaren car was also tuned with more downforce, something that could prove negative if the sprint took place on a dry track.

Hamilton was the best of the three champions, with two excellent laps, which were not enough to beat the McLaren. Alonso will start third, Verstappen fourth.

Carlos Sainz Jr. again beat his team mate, who almost destroyed his car when it mattered most, but fortunately his crash ended with only a small contact with the protective barriers.

Sergio Perez finished sixth, ahead of Leclerc in seventh and Oscar Piastre in eighth. Both Sauber drivers completed the top 10, with Bottas ninth, ahead of Guanyu in tenth.