F1 Qatar GP: Verstappen takes grand prix pole, Norris loses front row to track limits

The session at the Losail circuit was dominated by track limits transgressions, plus the drivers struggling for rear grip around the high-speed layout.

Verstappen posted a 1m23.778s on his first run in Q3, which turned out to be the pole time as he lost the rear of his RB19 going through Turn 5 on his second attempt.

Norris had already lost a time to track limits in Q1 and this occurred again on his first Q3 flier, where like Verstappen he went too wide at Turn 5.

He initially got to within 0.3s of Verstappen’s leading with his second Q3 attempt, but edging out too wide through the long Turn 10 left proved to be costly for Norris and he was dropped back to 10th.

Norris’s errors promoted Mercedes driver George Russell to second, initially ahead of Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton, who had been second after the first Q3 runs but abandoned his second go after a wild oversteer moment at Turn 7 sent him off track.

But Piastri also suffered a late qualifying demotion when his best Q3 lap was deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 14, which dropped him from third to sixth.

With Hamilton up to third, Fernando Alonso took fourth for Aston Martin ahead of Charles Leclerc, who also abandoned his second Q3 flier after needing two attempts to set a time on the first runs in the final segment as he went off at Turn 4 – a spot of repeated issue for the Ferrari driver throughout qualifying.

Lando Norris, McLaren MCL60

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon finished seventh and eighth, ahead of Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas and the demoted Norris.

In Q2, Yuki Tsunoda topped the list of those eliminated, with Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez the high-profile early fallers ahead of Alex Albon and Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg.

Sainz could not gain time switching to new softs late in the middle segment – abandoning his first lap after a moment at Turn 7 and the getting involved in an incident with Verstappen where Sainz appeared to repeatedly cut of the Red Bull’s line as the prepared for their final Q2 efforts.

This incident will be investigated now qualifying has concluded.

Perez was knocked out after losing his best time – one that only had him on the fringes of the Q2 top 10 anyway – for slipping beyond track limits at Turn 5 on what his final effort.

In Q1, Albon’s last-gasp improvement knocked his Williams team-mate Logan Sargeant out by just 0.092s with the American driver ruing losing time in the high speed corners in the track’s final sector.

Behind came Lance Stroll in the second Aston, ahead of Liam Lawson, Kevin Magnussen and Zhou Guanyu.

Hamilton, Tsunoda, Lawson and Piastri also face a post-qualifying investigation for possibly failing to follow the race director’s instructions regarding the maximum lap time aimed to reduce traffic issues in qualifying.

F1 Qatar GP - Qualifying results

Main Information Additional Data Driver Info

     

Driver Info			Main Information Additional Data
Cla	Driver	#		Chassis	Engine	Time	km/h
1	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1		Red Bull	Red Bull	1'23.778	231.182
2	G. Russell Mercedes	63		Mercedes	Mercedes	+0.441	229.971
3	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44		Mercedes	Mercedes	+0.527	229.737
4	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14		Aston Martin	Mercedes	+0.591	229.562
5	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16		Ferrari	Ferrari	+0.646	229.413
6	O. Piastri McLaren	81		McLaren	Mercedes	+0.762	229.098
7	P. Gasly Alpine	10		Alpine	Renault	+0.775	229.063
8	E. Ocon Alpine	31		Alpine	Renault	+0.985	228.495
9	V. Bottas Alfa Romeo	77		Alfa Romeo	Ferrari	+1.280	227.703
10	L. Norris McLaren	4		McLaren	Mercedes
11	Y. Tsunoda AlphaTauri	22		AlphaTauri	Red Bull	+1.523	227.054
12	C. Sainz Ferrari	55		Ferrari	Ferrari	+1.550	226.982
13	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11		Red Bull	Red Bull	+1.684	226.627
14	A. Albon Williams	23		Williams	Mercedes	+1.929	225.979
15	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27		Haas	Ferrari	+2.005	225.779
16	L. Sargeant Williams	2		Williams	Mercedes	+2.432	224.660
17	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18		Aston Martin	Mercedes	+2.567	224.309
18	L. Lawson AlphaTauri	40		AlphaTauri	Red Bull	+2.857	223.558
19	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20		Haas	Ferrari	+3.268	222.503
20	Z. Guanyu Alfa Romeo	24		Alfa Romeo	Ferrari	+3.654	221.520
View full results