Sawt Falasteen - Upbeat Norris hopes for strong race

The 24-year-old Briton, who is bidding to beat his McLaren team-mate series leader Oscar Piastri to the drivers' title, had topped the times for McLaren during a close-fought session, but was outpaced in the final seconds by the four-time world champion in his Red Bull.

"It's all OK," he said. "It's not that unexpected and it has been difficult over the bumps in sector one... I would have loved to be on pole but Red Bull are just a little bit ahead of us.

"But I think our race pace will be a bit better so we have good hopes for the race."

Norris is 22 points behind Piastri, who qualified third, in the title race while Verstappen is third, 63 points adrift.

Piastri said: "I didn't get it together today and in some ways I am fortunate to be third on the grid. The car pace is good and it was nothing major. Not a disaster.

"I had a messy lap and I will have to be tidier tomorrow. I will see what happens at the start and hope for a good launch."

McLaren team chief Andrea Stella said the session had produced a genuine representation of the field with Red Bull proving they can win and fight for poles at any kind of circuit.

"We are competitive too, so it's a good result for us if not the one we wanted. We want to take pole but this is a good foundation for the sprint race and for race quali tomorrow.

"I think it will be a good race."

R.Halabi--SF-PST