Night qualifying at the Lusail International Circuit brought excitement and close calls.
Max Verstappen took his first pole position for Red Bull since Austria several months ago ahead of this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix. George Russell came in second after dominating most of Qualifying, ahead of Lando Norris, who will start tomorrow’s race from third.
Q1
The 20 Formula 1 drivers got going pretty quickly for qualifying on Saturday evening in Qatar. They’d already seen plenty of action throughout the weekend with the Sprint Race.
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen, one of the point-scorers in the Sprint, was among the first to set a flying lap. He went fastest overall, but a quick trip into the gravel guaranteed that he exceeded track limits and his time was deleted. Both Williams drivers also had lap times deleted early on, putting them on the back foot for the rest of the session.
Then it was the Aston Martin pair of Lance Stroll and Fernando Alonso going first and second, the former setting a time of 1:22.384 before getting overtaken on the timing screen by Verstappen and Norris.
Russell set a 1:21.519 to go fastest so far, and Norris jumped up ahead of Verstappen but still 0.059s behind the Mercedes. With half the session gone, Alonso was the only other driver within a tenth of Russell’s time.
The drivers in danger of elimination when they came out for their final laps of the session were Nico Hulkenberg, Alex Albon, Zhou Guanyu, Franco Colapinto, and Esteban Ocon.
Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, who had been somewhat anonymous for most of Q1, jumped into the top five towards the end, though no one could beat Russell’s time as he went faster still to stay in P1.
Colapinto was unable to improve on his final lap. His teammate was, though Albon was only able to manage 15th and was still in danger of elimination. It was Yuki Tsunoda who did it, improving just marginally enough to get 15th place and push Albon back out of Q1.
Eliminated in Q1:
16. Alex Albon
17. Liam Lawson
18. Nico Hulkenberg
19. Franco Colapinto
20. Esteban Ocon
Q2
Pierre Gasly, Magnussen and Tsunoda were the only three drivers on track for Q2 without their teammate at the Lusail International Circuit in Qatar.
Verstappen went quickest early on with a 1:21.085 ahead of Russell and Oscar Piastri. Further down, Gasly managed an impressive sixth-fastest on his first lap. Alonso, meanwhile, took a trip off the track and into the gravel, forcing him to pit and get a new set of tyres.
Piastri improved with about six minutes to go, getting within a tenth of Verstappen but still unable to beat the Dutch driver’s time. Russell was able to, setting a 1:21.084 to take P1. Verstappen was able to re-gain the top spot but not for long, and this time he was overtaken by Norris.
Both Kick Saubers and both Aston Martins were in the bottom five towards the end of the session, joined by Tsunoda. With traffic to consider, some drivers were able to get a tow and improve on their lap times.
Tsunoda jumped out of the bottom five but only barely, before he was pushed back in. Zhou was set to get into Q3 but a troublesome third sector denied him as Lewis Hamilton was also pushed into the bottom five. He was able to go fifth on his final lap, pushing Gasly out and dropping Sergio Perez down to tenth.
Fortunately for Perez, no one else was able to improve, and he squeaked through into Q3 along with Alonso.
Eliminated in Q2:
11. Pierre Gasly
12. Zhou Guanyu
13. Valtteri Bottas
14. Yuki Tsunoda
15. Lance Stroll
Q3
Both Ferraris, McLarens, Red Bulls, and Mercedes made it through to Q3, the four teams joined by Alonso and Magnussen in the fight for pole position.
Magnussen was the first to complete a flying lap, setting the bar for the session at 1:21.500 before being overtaken on the timing screens by both Ferraris. Inevitably, it seems, Russell’s first lap put him on top, making him the man to beat for pole today.
Alonso went third overall before another track limits violation lost him that time, forcing him to reset and try again. Halfway through the session he still didn’t have a time on the board, while Russell, Verstappen, and Leclerc held the top three spots.
As the ten drivers came out to set their final times, neither Ferrari was able to improve. Leclerc’s best time put him third, and Sainz was down in fifth. But later improvements would push them down further, as first Piastri then Norris took third place.
Russell improved upon his provisional pole time, but it was Verstappen who came through to go fastest overall at the final minute to take pole position for Sunday’s Grand Prix in Qatar.
Top ten starting:
1. Max Verstappen
2. George Russell
3. Lando Norris
4. Oscar Piastri
5. Charles Leclerc
6. Lewis Hamilton
7. Carlos Sainz
8. Fernando Alonso
9. Sergio Perez
10. Kevin Magnussen
Feature Image Credit: Clive Mason/Getty Images