Oscar Piastri claimed his first Formula 1 pole since August as he clinched the fastest time in Qatar Grand Prix qualifying, pouncing on Lando Norris’ mistake as the championship leader couldn’t improve on his final lap.
The McLarens laid down a significantly weighty gauntlet at the start of Q3, as Norris opened the final stage with a 1m19.495s, which shaded Piastri’s 1m19.530s opener. This put the orange cars around three tenths clear of George Russell after the first efforts, demonstrating their pace difference.
A short wait preceded the final runs with a red flag to remove a sticker at Turn 2, which had been spat onto the circuit by Carlos Sainz as the Spaniard’s car peeled off the markings from his garage floor.
On the resumption of the session, Norris elected to go out earlier – but made an error in Turn 2 and did not have the fuel on board to back off and go again. This opened the door to Piastri, who crucially found time on Norris in the opening sector and maintained an advantage to grasp his first grand prix pole since the race at Zandvoort – setting a 1m19.387s.
Max Verstappen found time on his final effort to fire his way up to third place, which ensured he was able to move ahead of Russell. Andrea Kimi Antonelli was just under two tenths behind his team-mate to grab fifth.
Isack Hadjar was sixth fastest, having lost a place to Antonelli amid the final runs, while Sainz’s sticker issue was not a hindrance in ending up seventh in the overall order – although he does face an investigation for being released in an unsafe condition.
Lando Norris, McLaren
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Sainz joins fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso on the fourth row of the grid, while Pierre Gasly outqualified Charles Leclerc – who survived a high-speed spin after his first effort of Q3.
Nico Hulkenberg’s attempt to break out of Q2 was denied by a late recovery from Leclerc, who thrust his way into the top 10 late on; the German fell just 0.003s of beating Hadjar into 10th.
Although Liam Lawson improved on his final effort of Q2, it was only enough for the Kiwi to leapfrog Ollie Bearman, who had been knocked into the danger zone when Antonelli’s late effort secured the Italian’s path into Q3.
Gabriel Bortoleto moved ahead of Alex Albon after his final run but could do no better than 14th. Albon was unable to exact any meaningful pace in his Q2 lap and, in a weird quirk, his laps in Q1 and Q2 were both recorded at 1m20.629s.
Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda was dumped out at the death of Q1 when Bortoleto fired his way up into 14th with his final lap of the session. Tsunoda had entered the final five minutes of a closely contested opening stage of qualifying in the drop zone, but got up to a provisional 12th place with his final time.
The Japanese driver, expected to be vacating his seat at the end of the year, was then pulled back into the gravitational orbit of the bottom five when his rivals began to improve.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari
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Esteban Ocon improved on his final lap, but could do no better than 17th as his confidence issues under braking continue to manifest, while Lewis Hamilton’s miserable weekend continued as he slumped to 18th in the order.
Lance Stroll and Franco Colapinto are set to prop up the grid in Sunday’s race after finishing in the bottom two places of qualifying.
F1 Qatar GP – Qualifying results
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– The Autosport.com Team
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