Verstappen grabs pole position for Qatar Grand Prix

F1 Grand Prix, GP Qatar, Losail International Circuit

Reigning world champion Max Verstappen took pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix on weekend he can clinch drivers' world title. F1Technical's senior writer Balázs Szabó reports on the Lusail qualifying.

As expected, the first qualfiying segment was highly intensive as drivers only had a single one-hour practice session which meant that everyone wanted to use the available track time.

Despite the challenging conditions, it was Max Verstappen who once again set the pace with a time of 1m 25.007s, just over a tenth ahead of Norris in second, with Alonso ending up third, followed by the other McLaren of Piastri.

Russell went up to fifth on his final flying effort, with Leclerc in sixth for Ferrari. The Alpine pair finished in the top ten with Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon ending up seventh and eighth quickest.

Sainz appeared to struggle for pace on the slippy track surface and took only ninth. Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg went 10th fastest, and he was followed by Sergio Perez, Valtteri Bottas, and Yuki Tsunoda. Hamilton scraped through on just one soft tyre in 14th, with Alex Albon beating his team-mate for P15.

The five drivers who failed to progress to Q2 are Logan Sargeant, Lance Stroll, Liam Lawson, Kevin Magnussen and Zhou Guanyu.

The middle part of the session saw drivers find more improvement as the track got cleaner and grippier.

Lewis Hamilton finished the session atop of the leaderboard with a time of 1m24.381s, leading Verstappen by 0.102s, with the McLarens of Norris and Piastri in third and fourth.

Russell was fifth, ahead of the Alpine pair of Gasly and Ocon, who continued to impress for the French outfit. Leclerc squeezed through ahead of Alonso, and Bottas – who made it into Q3 for the first time since Budapest.

Following his win in Singapore and a pole position in Monza, Carlos Sainz failed to get used to the low-grip conditions, and with a messy final push lap, he missed the progression into the final part of qualifying.

Sergio Perez had yet another diffiult qualifying session. Although the Mexican squeezed through to Q3, but he had his time deleted for exceeding track limits, which means that he will line up 13th on the grid on Sunday.

The five drivers who failed to progress to Q2 are Yuki Tsunoda, Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez, Alexander Albon and Nico Hülkenberg.

The final qualifying segment saw drivers perform two runs on the soft tyres. Max Verstappen clocked in a 1m23.778s on his first lap, and he was on course to find another improvement o his second lap before making a mistake in the middle part of the track.

Despite the mistake from the Dutchman, he managed to edge out the McLaren drivers of Lando Norris and Lando Norris. While the McLaren had eye-catching pace, the day ended in tears as both drivers lost their fastest lap.

Norris had both his first and his second effort cancelled for track limits, leaving him without a time which means that he will line up tenth on the grid on Sunday.

Piastri had been first boosted to third by Norris's lap deletion, but his quickest time has been deleted too. It meant that George Russell moved up to second and Hamilton to third.

After difficult weekends, Fernando Alonso managed to put his Aston Martin into P4, narrowly beating Ferrari's Charles Leclerc. Oscar Piastri's second fastest lap was good enough for P6 with the Alpine drivers Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon ending up seventh and eighth fastest.

Valtteri Bottas managed to excel on the sandy, dirty track in difficult windy conditions, putting his Alfa Romeo on P9 for the main race in Lusail.