DOHA - McLaren’s Lando Norris took pole position for the Qatar Grand Prix sprint on Nov 29, with Mercedes’ George Russell denying the Formula One leaders a front row lockout by pushing Oscar Piastri down to third.

Lando Norris ignored team orders as he handed his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri the win the sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix in a one-two finish for the team.

The FIA has explained the reasons behind Lando Norris’ severe penalty during Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix and the delay in deploying the safety car. Following the penultimate race of the Formula One season at Lusail,

McLaren boss Andrea Stella said he could not understand the decision to hand Lando Norris an “unbelievably harsh” penalty at the Qatar Grand Prix and called for a sense of proportion to be shown to drivers.

In a chaotic Qatar Grand Prix that saw multiple drivers' races affected by penalties, McLaren saw their hopes of winning the Constructors' Championship in Lusail dashed after Lando Norris was hit with a controversial stop-and-go penalty after ignoring yellow flags because of debris on the track.

Lando Norris’ Qatar Grand Prix weekend went from bad to worse in the wake of Sunday’s Grand Prix as the Briton was hit with three penalty points on his Super Licence having failed to slow for yellow flags.