Norris: Passing Russell at Turn 1 only Qatar GP sprint opportunity

Formula 1 championship leader Lando Norris believes a move on George Russell into the first corner is his sole opportunity to upgrade from third on the grid in the Qatar Grand Prix sprint race, as overtaking is expected to be difficult.

While the Losail circuit is a favourite among the drivers due to its myriad high-to-medium speed corners and its high-grip nature, Turn 1 tends to do much of the heavy lifting in terms of overtaking opportunities at the circuit.

Otherwise, there are few other heavy stopping zones around the circuit, which limits the opportunities for drivers to make a lunge down the inside of the car ahead. The difficulty that the current cars face in following each other also hurts the chance to make overtakes elsewhere.

Norris hence suggested that the opening lap would present the only real opportunity to atone for qualifying third, having blamed himself for the mistakes that cost him a chance at starting alongside team-mate and title rival Oscar Piastri on the front row.

He added that he would be "stupid" to play it safe in the sprint and rely on banking the points, and aimed to contend for victory; Norris can wrap up the 2025 title if he is able to outscore both Piastri and Max Verstappen by two points across the weekend.

"The pace was there. I just made a mistake in the last corner on my first lap and didn't put it together," Norris rued. "I'd be stupid to not try and win. I'll see what I can find overnight and see what we can do for tomorrow.

"It's impossible to overtake, so I think I'm probably going to finish P3. But if I can at least get George off the line or something, then that's probably the most I can hope for."

George Russell, Mercedes

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / LAT Images via Getty Images

Russell agreed that the order out of Turn 1 would likely be the order in which the sprint race finished, given the difficulty of overtaking around the Qatar circuit - allied to the lack of strategic options.

The Mercedes driver stated that his fellow drivers had asked for the DRS zone to be extended to offer more chances to overtake across the weekend, and hopes the FIA will at least consider making it longer for Sunday's grand prix.

"I don't want to put a downer on it, but Turn 1 is probably going to be where we end up, really," Russell explained.

"We briefly spoke about it this morning in the drivers' briefing about why the DRS hasn't been extended, and I hope maybe after the sprint they can adjust it if needed for the race.

"I think it will be challenging to overtake, but obviously we're in a good starting position, so we'll take it."

Many of the other drivers concurred with the opinions of Norris and Russell; Isack Hadjar stated that he expected the race to devolve into a "DRS train", while Ollie Bearman agreed with Russell that the DRS zone was too short to make an impact.