DOHA: A delighted George Russell qualified in second place for Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix following a late and confusing deletion of the best laps by rival McLaren drivers.When the chequered flag waved to end Friday’s qualifying session, defending champion Max Verstappen was fastest for Red Bull ahead of Lando Norris of McLaren with Mercedes’ Russell third and Oscar Piastri fourth in the second McLaren.The decisions to scub out the fastest laps by the two McLarens were not communicated to the drivers or organizers before the top-three finishers began to gather for their post-session broadcast media interviews — at which point Norris withdrew, knowing he had exceeded track limits on his best lap.That left Russell to declare he was delighted to finish third on the grid — not knowing that he was promoted to second.“It was a really tricky day for everybody,” he said.“The new tarmac was really slippery and all the sand is blowing onto the track.
We went out in qualifying and the lap times were just immense compared to the times we were doing this morning.“That was good fun!
And I’m really happy to be P3.”Looking ahead to Sunday’s race, for which Verstappen claimed pole position, he said: “Lando and the McLarens are really quick at the moment.
We know Red Bull and Max are in a league of their own, but our fight is with Ferrari to secure P2 in the constructors’ championship.”At one point, he turned to look for Norris. “Where is Lando?” he asked. “He seems to have disappeared!“In a bizarre turn of events, Piastri was then interviewed although he was demoted from third position during the broadcast.