QATAR GP – Max Verstappen fastest three tenths ahead of Carlos Sainz in practice
Max Verstappen was the fastest in practice for the Qatar Grand Prix, the Red Bull driver set a 27.428 that put him three-tenths ahead of Carlos Sainz. Verstappen goes into qualifying later this evening and this weekend as the driver to beat he has two opportunities to wrap up his third championship this weekend.
Verstappen however looked unsettled going off track several times, but there still remains unanswered questions going into qualifying whether they have the cooling issues which affected them at the last night race in Singapore. Before on the soft tyres leaping up the order to go fastest.
Sainz was nearly a tenth ahead of his Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc. High winds and sandy residue on a new track surface contributed to a slippery circuit, causing Sainz to quip “My dad [two-time WRC champion Carlos Sainz Sr] would be quick in these conditions”.
Verstappen is likely to win the title in Saturday’s sprint race – he will do so as long as he does not lose six points or more to team-mate Sergio Perez. There are eight points for a win, on a sliding scale down to one for eighth place. But the conditions meant the Dutchman was seven-tenths off his 2021 pole time.
Fernando Alonso looked to refined some of Aston Martin’s pace from earlier in the year going fourth, last time out in Lusail the two-time champion scored his first podium since the start of the hybrid era. Alonso was the fastest driver on the medium tyre, while the Red Bull’s were on hards and Ferrari on softs.
Yuki Tsunoda was sixth for Alpha Tauri the Japanese driver six-tenths off Verstappen and ahead of Nico Hulkenberg by a tenth and a half. Tsunoda was only a hundredth behind the sister Red Bull of Perez. Alpha Tauri, though under different regulations and conditions, had an excellent weekend two years ago at Lusail as their Singapore upgrades continued to show progress.
Hulkenberg moved up to eighth a tenth and a half behind Tsunoda after being the first onto the soft towards the end off the session. George Russell was eighth, the Mercedes driver had a low-key early part of the session as he cleared the track, but most of his running was on the hard and medium tyres.
Oscar Piastri was ninth six hundredths faster than McLaren teammate Lando Norris, but their pace on the soft tyres is also unknown as they didn’t do any running. However recent performance suggests they should be through to Q3 and both were around a second off the pace.
William made a strong start to the weekend, Logan Sargeant eleventh fastest four hundredths faster than Alex Albon. The American looking to retain his seat for next year.
Lewis Hamilton didn’t perhaps show his full potential in thirteenth, he was three-tenths behind Russell. But the 2021 race winner had to back out of his fastest lap after going too far over the kerbs. Hamilton ended the session a hundredth faster than Lance Stroll, followed by the Alpine’s. Esteban Ocon going nine hundredths ahead of teammate Pierre Gasly.
Valtteri Bottas was also faster than his teammate Guanyu Zhou by six hundredths, with the two Alfa Romeo’s seventeenth and eighteenth. With Liam Lawson rounding out the field.