Max Verstappen has beaten George Russell by just over a half a tenth to take pole for the Qatar Grand Prix, the Red Bull driver set a 20.520 in the closing moments of the session to secure his first pole in five months. Verstappen looked on form throughout qualifying as Red Bull appeared to find pace after struggling in Sprint Qualifying yesterday.
Verstappen topped the times going half a second faster than Lando Norris managed yesterday, but the Englishman couldn’t replicate the same pace he managed yesterday during sprint qualifying or his first run in Q3, which saw him go fastest. It appears that Red Bull had made progress between the sprint and qualifying, while McLaren couldn’t find as much as their rivals.
While stewards have not confirmed it was exactly the lap in question, replays showed Verstappen was involved in an incident in the final sector when a faster Russell came up behind the Red Bull and had to slow down to avoid a collision. It appears from replays that Russell had blocked Verstappen on one of his warm-up laps in Q3, the Red Bull driver and had to go over a kerb. Verstappen has been summoned to the stewards for driving too slowly on the lap in question.
Russell labelled Verstappen’s driving as “super dangerous” over Mercedes team radio.
Russell had taken provisional pole, before the four-time champion appeared to come from nowhere to take pole. But is under investigation for driving “unnecessarily slowly” on a warm-up lap late in the session before his final pole-winning attempt.
The four-time champion took his ninth pole while his former title rival Norris was third going two-tenths behind ahead of sprint winner and teammate Oscar Piastri, Norris however appeared to abort his final attempt. That despite only managing eighth in the sprint where he had complained about lacking grip or balance.
McLaren goes into the race needing a one-two finish and the fastest lap, to clinch their first constructors championship in twenty-five years or the fight between them and Ferrari will go to the final race in Abu Dhabi next weekend. Following their one-two earlier on Saturday in the sprint, McLaren needs to outscore Ferrari by fifteen points with Red Bull not gaining more than twenty-two points.
Verstappen said “Crazy. Honestly, I also didn’t expect that. Well done to the team to give me a car that feels a bit more connected and once the car is more together you can push a lot harder. We did change a bit on the car but I never thought it would make such a swing in performance, it felt a lot more stable over one lap and that is exactly what we need.”
Russell said: “I’m feeling in such a groove at the moment, the first lap was one of the best I have ever done and for whatever reason couldn’t find any more time on the second run and Max just pipped me.
Charles Leclerc put his Ferrari fifth just under a quarter of a tenth off Piastri, with his incoming teammate Lewis Hamilton going over a tenth and a half off. Hamilton split the two Ferrari’s after admitting he was losing pace as he comes into the end of the second decade in the sport, but the seven-time champion was three hundredths faster than Carlos Sainz.
On Friday night, Hamilton who has the most poles in the sports history declared after being three tenths behind Russell in Sprint Qualifying, declared he was “definitely not fast anymore” after finishing five places behind. It only grew in GP Qualifying to four and three hundredths of a second.
Sainz was two tenths faster than his fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso, the most experienced driver in the sport’s history made it through on his final run in Q2 momentary knocking long term rival Hamilton out. But the Englishman’s response was moving himself into fifth, thus securing his place in Q3.
Sainz has been placed under investigation for a unsafe release ahead of an oncoming Hamilton, took seventh.
Leclerc added, “Both of my laps were really, really good and there wasn’t much more between them in any of the corners. P5 is not great but we have the McLarens right in front so it could have been worse, but I will need a good start.”
Sergio Perez was ninth the second Red Bull was a tenth and three quarters behind Sainz, and nine-tenths behind teammate Verstappen. He was three quarters faster than Kevin Magnussen as they completed the top ten, the Haas had put the Mexican at risk of being knocked out in Q2 when he was just under four hundredths faster but both hung on to make it through.
Perez had and needed a strong qualifying after starting the sprint from the pit lane, and was caught napping at the lights when he did not go straight away and was passed by Williams’ Franco Colapinto. But it may not be enough to silence his critics as the Mexican is still to be at risk of losing his seat at Red Bull.
But Pierre Gasly was the unlucky one being roughly on the same pace as the Haas and Red Bull, the Alpine missed out by just over a hundredth on the final part of qualifying. But the Frenchman continued what has been a strong end to a difficult season and few months for the French team, as he went ahead of an equally strong Sauber duo.
Guanyu Zhou going a quarter of second faster than teammate Valtteri Bottas as the team still looks to avoid its first pointless season in its thirty-year history. It looked to be one of Sauber’s best qualifying’s of the year but they couldn’t improve to get through to the final part of qualifying. Yuki Tsunoda also appeared to struggle to find pace and was only just through to Q2 where he was a tenth and a quarter ahead of Lance Stroll.
Tsunoda made it through to the second part of qualifying despite not doing the best in any sector, but his combined time put him just under three hundredths ahead of Alex Albon. The second RB of Liam Lawson couldn’t follow his teammate by finding the same improvement, as he went a tenth and a half faster than Nico Hulkenberg.
The Haas driver received an apology over the radio from race engineer Gary Gannon, who noted that the team hadn’t “got the softs right”. Franco Colapinto and Esteban Ocon also earned early exits from qualifying after propping up the order in Q1, the Williams nearly a tenth and a quarter faster than the Alpine.
Related
- Qatar GP – Sprint Result
- QATAR GP – Oscar Piastri takes back-to-back sprint wins in Lusail after Lando Norris hands victory to teammate
- Qatar GP – Sprint Qualifying Result 2024
- QATAR GP – Lando Norris beats Carlos Sainz to sprint pole by six hundredths in another close qualifying
- QATAR GP – Charles Leclerc ahead of both McLarens by four-tenths in practice
- Welcome to the Qatar Grand Prix – 2024
- PRIXVIEW – Qatar Grand Prix
