It was a strong session from the McLaren pair who featured towards the top of the timesheets throughout the session.

Mercedes finally showed its hand, with George Russell second fastest, though Lewis Hamilton was only seventh while Liam Lawson will start 10th for RB.

The 20:30 local time start meant conditions had eased from opening practice, with the circuit nearly four degrees cooler than it had been.

The air temperature had also dropped, though only by two degrees, but it still introduced a nip to the air that was notably absent a year ago.

Times were quick out of the blocks, with Free Practice 1 pace-setting Charles Leclerc logging a 1:23.259s on medium tyres – as mandated in Sprint Qualifying.

The Ferrari driver had been three-tenths faster earlier in the day, though that was set on the soft rubber.

While a benchmark lap, it was far from unbeatable as Norris demonstrated, smashing it by almost half a second with his 1:22.785s.

Encouragingly though, Russell was quick in the opening minutes to squeeze between Norris and Leclerc, the Mercedes driver just 0.026s slower than the provisional pole time.

With others improving, Ferrari reacted.

First it was Carlos Sainz who went fastest with a 1:22.261s before Leclerc improved again to a 1:22.156s.

The game continued to move, rapidly so, and soon it was Norris fastest with a 1:22.021s heading Russell with an identical time.

At the end of the segment, Norris remained fastest, having moved on to a 1:21.356s, from Sainz, Russell, Lewis Hamilton, Leclerc, and Piastri.

It was another desperately underwhelming session for Sergio Perez who again missed the cut in 16th, then came Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon, Zhou Guanyu, and Franco Colapinto.

The second segment saw Verstappen fastest with his first lap, a 1:22.188s holding sway until Leclerc managed a 1:22.130s.

Sainz didn’t have the same immediate pace and ran some four-tenths slower – behind Nico Hulkenberg’s Haas which saw an early third.

It did so because the McLarens hadn’t run, nor had the Mercedes pair, as they operated slightly out of sequence.

When Norris did complete a lap, he mustered a 1:22.173s to sit second, third once Piastri banged in his 1:22.050s.

That was beaten by a better effort from Sainz at the second time of asking, heading a brief one-two for Ferrari.

Russell upset the apple car with his first flying lap of the segment, a 1:21.488s to move onto provisional pole.

As he did, Piastri had his time deleted for track limits, relegating him to 14th in the standings with two minutes remaining.

The Australian remedied that situation with a safe 1:21.548s to sit third inside the final 30 seconds of the segment.

Norris was fastest, ending the session in the pits, from Russell who did likewise.

Then came Piastri, Verstappen, Sainz, Leclerc, Hulkenberg, Pierre Gasly, and Liam Lawson.

Missing the cut were Fernando Alonso, Alex Albon, Valtteri Bottas, Lance Stroll, and Kevin Magnussen.

Lawson was the first car out as the final part of qualifying began, seven of the 10 surviving drivers immediately heading out.

Hulkenberg and the McLaren duo didn’t follow suit and instead kept the powder dry in the early moments of the eight-minute session.

McLaren delayed its entry by around two minutes, leaving it around three-quarters of a lap behind Verstappen.

A scrappy lap from Leclerc was still good enough for provisional pole, with a 1:21.705s from the Ferrari driver who almost dropped the car at the penultimate corner.

McLaren had both its drivers go faster, a 1:21.102s from Norris and a 1:21.171s for Piastri to leave the pair first and second.

Russell slotted in third behind Norris, missing out on pole by 0.063s.

A rapid start to Russell’s second flying lap wasn’t helped by a sluggish middle, which saw him drop time by the line, remaining second.

It was a similar story for Verstappen, who also dropped time through the second sector to remain fourth.

Finally, Russell improved one place to split the two McLarens, while Sainz and Leclerc saw the flag to bump Verstappen back to sixth.

Then came Hamilton, Gasly, Hulkenberg, and Lawson, the Kiwi’s best lap deleted for track limits.

It was an imperious drive from Norris, who improved by two-tenths on his final quality lap while Russell musced his Mercedes to get within 0.063s of the pole sitter.

The Qatar Sprint begins at 17:00 local time (01:00 AEDT Sunday).