BREAKING: Lando Norris crashes in Saudi GP qualifying as McLaren star fumes - "F****** idiot"

McLaren star Lando Norris suffered a nasty crash in qualifying as his hopes of winning the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix took a major hit. Norris, 25, was heard calling himself a 'f****** idiot' over his team radio after confirming to race engineer Will Joseph that he was okay.

A red flag stopped the third qualifying session and the medical car was sent out. Norris' car was in pieces after hitting the wall, with his left-front tyre taking most the damage.

Qualifying resumed at 7:02pm BST with just over eight minutes of the final session to go. Norris leads the 2025 Drivers' Championship after four Grands Prix but his crash means that he'll start 10th on the grid, a blow to his hopes of holding onto top spot after Sunday's race.

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McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri was the only driver to have completed a flying lap at the time of Norris' crash and the resulting red flag. Piastri won the Bahrain Grand Prix last weekend to move within three points Norris in the table.

But it was ace who took pole after beating Piastri's second time, with the four-in-a-row champion hunting for only his second Grand Prix win of the season. Piastri had to settle for P2 while George Russell will start in third.

Charles Leclerc took P4 with Kimi Antontelli fifth and Carlos Sainz sixth. could only manage P7.

That was one place ahead of Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda, who pipped Pierre Gasly. Norris rounded out the top 10, with Sunday's race starting at 6pm.

There will be more to follow on this breaking news story and will bring you the very latest updates, pictures and video as soon as possible.

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