Oscar Piastri secured his initial Formula 1 pole position since August, achieving the swiftest lap during the Qatar Grand Prix’s qualifying session. He capitalized on a mistake by Lando Norris, as the current championship leader was unable to better his time on the concluding lap.
The McLarens displayed a notable level of challenge at the beginning of Q3. Norris initiated the final phase with a lap time of 1m19.495s, slightly ahead of Piastri’s initial 1m19.530s. This positioned the McLaren cars approximately three tenths ahead of George Russell after their first attempts, highlighting the difference in their speed.
A brief pause took place before the final runs, prompted by a red flag to eliminate a piece of sticker that had been dislodged by Carlos Sainz’s vehicle from his garage floor markings and deposited onto the track at Turn 2.
Upon the session’s resumption, Norris opted to start his run earlier. However, he committed a mistake at Turn 2 and lacked the necessary fuel to decelerate and try again. This presented an opportunity for Piastri, who significantly gained time on Norris in the initial sector and upheld his lead to claim his first grand prix pole since the race at Zandvoort, with a time of 1m19.387s.
Max Verstappen improved his time on his last attempt, advancing to third position and surpassing Russell. Andrea Kimi Antonelli trailed his teammate by just under two tenths of a second, securing fifth place.
Isack Hadjar achieved the sixth-fastest time, relinquishing a position to Antonelli during the final runs. Sainz’s sticker issue did not impede his performance, as he concluded the session in seventh place, although he is under investigation for a potentially unsafe release.
Lando Norris, McLaren
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Sainz will be joined on the fourth row of the grid by fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso, while Pierre Gasly achieved a better qualifying position than Charles Leclerc, who managed to avoid a high-speed spin following his initial Q3 attempt.
Nico Hulkenberg’s bid to advance from Q2 was thwarted by a subsequent recovery from Leclerc, who propelled himself into the top 10 in the closing moments. The German driver missed out on surpassing Hadjar into 10th place by a mere 0.003s.
Despite Liam Lawson’s improvement on his final Q2 lap, it was only sufficient for the Kiwi to overtake Ollie Bearman, who had been relegated to the danger zone when Antonelli’s late lap secured the Italian’s progression into Q3.
Gabriel Bortoleto edged ahead of Alex Albon after his final run, but his best effort only placed him 14th. Albon was unable to generate substantial speed during his Q2 lap, and curiously, his lap times in both Q1 and Q2 were identical at 1m20.629s.
Yuki Tsunoda of Red Bull was eliminated at the conclusion of Q1 when Bortoleto surged to 14th place with his final lap of the session. Tsunoda had entered the last five minutes of a closely contested initial qualifying stage in the drop zone, but he momentarily improved to 12th place with his final time.
The Japanese driver, whose departure from his seat is anticipated at the end of the year, was subsequently drawn back into the bottom five as his competitors began to register faster times.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
Photo by: Guido De Bortoli / LAT Images via Getty Images
Esteban Ocon improved on his final lap, but could not exceed 17th place, as ongoing braking issues persisted. Lewis Hamilton’s problematic weekend continued, as he concluded qualifying in 18th position.
Lance Stroll and Franco Colapinto are positioned at the rear of the grid for Sunday’s race, having finished in the bottom two positions during qualifying.
F1 Qatar GP – Qualifying results
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