Sawt Falasteen - Confident Norris eyes China success as first F1 sprint beckons

Warm and dry weather is forecast for Saturday's sprint and Sunday's second grand prix of the year on the 5.451km Shanghai International Circuit, where long turns and heavy braking zones are notoriously punishing on tyres.

The conditions will be a marked contrast to last weekend's wet and wild season-opener in Melbourne, a race run almost entirely on intermediate wet tyres and punctuated by long stints under the safety car.

McLaren's Norris survived a late slither onto gravel, damaging his car's floor, before holding off a charging Max Verstappen to take the chequered flag.

It is a fast turnaround to China, where teams will have just 60 minutes of practice on Friday morning to fine-tune their set-ups before the afternoon's sprint qualifying shootout.

The 19-lap sprint race is on Saturday morning before grand prix qualifying later the same day. Sunday sees the main race over 56 laps.

Norris finished a distant second behind Verstappen's Red Bull when Formula One returned to China last April after a five-year absence, but the Englishman is now the man to beat.

"I'm confident that when we go to China we can be very strong because we were strong there last year with not a very good car," Norris said after his Melbourne victory.

Verstappen's success in Shanghai a year ago was his fourth in five races as he dominated the early season before going on to win his fourth world championship.

- Hamilton Ferrari woe -

But in Australia on Sunday Verstappen was easily dropped by the McLarens once Oscar Piastri passed him for second place.

Verstappen was at one stage 16 seconds adrift before a Piastri spin and a safety car gave him a late chance to pressure Norris.

"We only have a few days before we are in China so not sure how much we will be able to find and turn around," said the Dutchman, who is seeking a fifth consecutive world title, a feat only previously achieved by Michael Schumacher.

Verstappen also won the sprint in China last year, blasting past Lewis Hamilton in a Mercedes.

Now with Ferrari, Hamilton's debut for the Italian team saw the seven-time world champion berate a car that was "a lot worse" than he thought it would be as he came home 10th.

Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc were also compromised by being left out too long by the team on slicks when rain returned.

Both know they are already playing catch-up.

"McLaren and Red Bull had serious pace so there's work to do, but we'll dig deep," said Hamilton. "I'm looking forward to getting back in the car in China."

Hamilton has a record six victories in Shanghai -- twice with McLaren in 2008 and 2011, and four times with Mercedes in 2014-15, 2017 and 2019.

Leclerc conceded: "We are disappointed but it's good to know we'll be back in the car in just a few days in China. It's a continuous process of improvement."

Mercedes won six times in China from 2012 to 2019 and had an encouraging start in Melbourne, where George Russell was third and Kimi Antonelli fourth on his debut.

Antonelli was by far the best of the six full-season rookies, with Haas's Oliver Bearman the only other to finish.

Isack Hadjar was distraught after crashing his RB on the formation lap while Alpine's Jack Doohan hit the wall on the first lap.

Gabriel Bortoleto's Sauber and Liam Lawson's Red Bull retired after 45 and 46 of the 58 laps respectively.

Hometown hero Zhou Guanyu drew huge crowds last year in Shanghai when he raced for Sauber, but he has since been dumped by the team.

Fans will still be able to catch a glimpse of China's only Formula One driver, but it will be off the track in his new role as Ferrari reserve.

K.AbuTaha--SF-PST