Piastri blows Verstappen’s qualifying double! McLaren to line up on the front row for Qatar sprint

The Qatar Grand Prix hosts the fourth Formula One Sprint Weekend, with a programme that includes two qualifying sessions. The first, which determines the order for Sunday’s race, was run yesterday, while this afternoon it was the turn of qualifying for the evening, 19-lap sprint. The McLaren drivers slightly disappointed in the battle for the big pole position, so at least they made up for it by gaining the small one. Oscar Piastri will start the sprint first ahead of teammate Lando Norris! Verstappen is now down to third.

Before the start of sprint qualifying, there was a short, untimed practice session. The drivers familiarised themselves with the kerb adjustments at selected corners, which were tightened as a result. This was because tyre supplier Pirelli had detected enormous vibrations on their tyres, which they feared might not maintain their expected life in the race.

First part of qualifying (SQ1)

The twelve-minute segment with all twenty drivers on track was won by Mercedes’ George Russell. the 25-year-old Briton set a time of 1:25.413. Max Verstappen, who needs to score a sixth place finish tonight to win his next world championship title, finished second, 97 thousandths of a second behind Russell.

Alpine drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon showed good form again as in yesterday’s qualifying. The two Frenchmen pulled their cars up to fourth and eighth respectively. Liam Lawson in the alpha tauri was a pleasant surprise with a tenth time, while his teammate Júki Cunoda did not advance due to a track limit violation on his final flying lap.

Lance Stroll, Alexander Albon, Kevin Magnussen and Logan Sargeant also failed to qualify for SQ2 with Cunoda eighteenth, who did not set a regular time.

Second part of qualifying (SQ2)

Once again, there was at least one driver from the top teams who did not take part in the shootout for the top qualifying spot. Yesterday, Carlos Sainz, winner of the Singapore VC, and Sergio Pérez were absent from Q2. Today, the black five landed on Lewis Hamilton who, like Cunod in SQ1, had his fastest lap deleted by race directors.

While one of the British drivers had to retire, another British driver, McLaren’s Lando Norris, dominated the middle part of the sprint qualifying thanks to an attempted 1:24.947. Second-placed Russell was 80 thousandths of a second behind his compatriot.

The Red Bulls lined up third and fourth, this time in the order of Pérez, Verstappen. Alonso confirmed with fifth place that the Aston Martin car definitely has the potential for a solid result in Qatar. Nico Hülkenberg, another excellent qualifier this year, was also on hand, lifting his Haas to ninth place

As well as twelfth-placed Hamilton, Gasly, Alfa Romeo drivers Valtteri Bottas and Kuan-yu Zhou and Lawson also said goodbye to SQ2. A total of seven different teams thus turned out to battle for a mini pole position.

The third part of qualifying (SQ3)

The track limits also affected the modern-day steering wheel grandmaster Verstappen, whose first fast lap was wiped out by the race directorate. With three minutes to go in the eight-minute segment, only two valid laps, those by Pérez and Sainz, appeared on the timesheets.

Charles Leclerc was in big trouble, even failing to get between the white lines twice in his fleeting attempts. Meanwhile, mclarenas Norris and Piastri made their way to the provisional front row.

Leclerc and Verstappen were thus forced to gamble with only one fast lap. They weren’t alone, with Alonso and Hülkenberg also left with room for a single attempt.

Verstappen was the first of this group to cross the imaginary finish line, but his fastest lap was only enough to take third place behind the McLaren driver. Leclerc similarly struggled his way to the end of SQ3, eventually slotting into seventh on the sprint grid behind teammate Sainz. Alonso finished fifth, with Hülkenberg working his way up to a final eighth place ahead of Pérez. SQ1 winner Russell jumped to fourth, with Ocon completing the top 10.

The final seconds, however, undoubtedly belonged to McLaren. Piastri managed a 1:24.454 at the end to beat teammate Norris, who spoiled his potentially fastest qualifying time with an off-track trip at the final corner. The Aussie will thus be on pole position for the first time in his less than a year-long career, but there can be no talk of an official pole position gain.

Below you can see the standings for the start of the sprint, which will start at 19:30 CET. After the end of qualifying, the results table was still changing. Alonso dropped to ninth place after his fastest lap was cancelled. Behind fourth-placed Russell, the order was officially settled at Sainz – Leclerc – Hülkenberg – Pérez – Alonso – Ocon.

Source: F1, Twitter