Oscar Piastri secured crucial F1 pole in Qatar GP from Lando Norris, with Max Verstappen keeping them on toes in third.
Q1:
The start of F1 qualifying in Qatar GP saw early investigation for Williams’ Alexander Albon for unsafe release in the path of Haas’ Esteban Ocon as show in replays. The Thai racer had his first quick lap deleted for track limits, as did the Frenchman and Alpine’s Franco Colapinto.
It was Mercedes’ George Russell at the top with a 1m20.074s lap after his late push, 0.083s ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris, with teammate Oscar Piastri in third. The Top 19 cars was covered by 0.984s margin, as Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda missed out eventually by 0.080s margin.
He was 16th after his 1m20.761s lap, with Ocon (1m20.864s) in 17th ahead of Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton (1m20.907s), who was knocked out in Q1 again. Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll (1m21.058s) slotted in 19th from Colapinto (1m21.137s) to round out the 20 runners.
Q2:
The start of second part in F1 qualifying in Qatar GP was delayed for track clean-up, as first lap of Norris was deleted due to track limits in Turn 10. A lap of Haas’ Oliver Bearman was also deleted. There was a lot of dust and smog in certain parts of the circuit to add to the misery.
It was Piastri on top with a 1m19.650s lap from Norris, who went around again to improve and finish ahead of Verstappen. There was late lap deletion for Russell but it was good enough to be inside the Top 10. Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg missed out in 11th after his 1m20.353s lap.
He missed out making it in the Top 10 by just the 0.003s margin, with Visa Cash App RB’s Liam Lawson (1m20.433s) in 12th from Bearman (1m20.438s), Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto (1m20.534s) and Albon (1m20.629s) to round out the Top 15 runners.
Q3:
The final part in F1 qualifying in Qatar GP saw few not having any new soft tyre set remaining in their kitty, which included Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque couldn’t complete a lap after a 360 spin at Turn 15 after he was unable to catch the car this time.
Williams’ Carlos Sainz was under investigation for unsafe release with a sticker stuck on right-rear tyre. It shed off at Turn 2 as the session was red-flagged to clean it up after the first run was completed. It was Norris with provisional pole after his 1m19.495s lap from Piastri (1m19.530s) by 0.035s margin.
Russell was third after his 1m19.842s lap, with Verstappen (1m19.949s) and Visa Cash App RB’s Isack Hadjar (1m20.114s) rounding the Top 5. The second run saw Norris make a mistake on his final attempt as he aborted his run to dive into the pits when teammate Piastri was improving.
In the end, Piastri set the 1m19.387s to take crucial F1 pole in Qatar GP from Norris, as Verstappen improved to third after a 1m19.651s lap to finish ahead of Mercedes pair of Russell (1m19.662s) and Andrea Kimi Antonelli (1m19.846s) in the Top 5.
Hadjar was another to abort to finish sixth, with Sainz (1m20.287s) in seventh, Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso (1m20.418s) eighth, Alpine’s Pierre Gasly (1m20.477s) ninth and Leclerc returning to complete a lap in 10th to set a 1m20.561s lap.
Here’s how F1 Qatar GP sprint panned out