McLaren’s Lando Norris claimed pole position for the Qatar Grand Prix sprint race but Mercedes’ George Russell denied the F1 leaders a front-row lockout by pushing Australia’s Oscar Piastri down to third.

Piastri’s McLaren are leading Ferrari in the championship by 24 points with two rounds remaining and a first constructors’ title since 1998 tantalisingly close.

Norris lapped the floodlit Lusail circuit with a best time of one minute 21.012 seconds on Friday with Russell 0.063 slower and 23-year-old Piastri, last year’s sprint winner in Qatar, 0.159 off the pace.

“Reasonably happy. In these conditions it was very tough and I am pretty sure everyone will say that. I struggled a bit at the start,” Piastri told Sky Sports.

“This track is pretty mega to drive around. It’s a lot of fun here, especially the high speed sections.”

Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz qualified fourth with team-mate Charles Leclerc fifth and newly-crowned four-times champion Max Verstappen sixth for Red Bull while Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton was seventh.

Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez qualified only 16th, the latest in a string of disappointing performances by the struggling Mexican.

Pierre Gasly will line up eighth, the last scoring position, for Alpine with Nico Hulkenberg ninth for Haas and Liam Lawson 10th for Red Bull.

“A great qualifying, especially to bounce back from where we were in Las Vegas. It’s a nice thing to do,” said Norris, whose own drivers’ title hopes finally evaporated at Las Vegas last Saturday.

“We were coming here to get pole and we did that, so job done today.

“Our target is a one-two. We want to maximise points for the constructors’. We want to go for it,” he added.

The sprint winner will take eight points on Saturday and they will be important, as the constructors’ title race so tight.

Earlier, Piastri who was second to drivers’ Verstappen in last year’s main grand prix, finished third in the sole practice session which saw Leclerc bank the fastest time.

Leclerc ended that session 0.425 seconds clear of Norris.