Verstappen grabs surprise pole position for Qatar Grand Prix

Newly-crowned four-time world champion Max Verstappen secured a surprise pole position for tomorrow’s Qatar Grand Prix, pipping Mercedes racer George Russell. F1Technical’s lead journalist Balazs Szabo reports on the closely-matched main qualifying from Qatar.

Following a low-key showing in Qatar F1 Sprint, Max Verstappen bounced back with an eye-catching performance in the main qualifying for tomorrow’s Qatar Grand Prix. The newly-crowned four-time world champion looked strong from the get-go, with Red Bull having made several tweaks to his RB following the sprint race.

The Dutchman needed a quick lap in the dying seconds of Q3 to beat George Russell, which he was able to deliver to secure his first pole position since the Austrian Grand Prix.

The Mercedes racer looked the dominant force through the first two qualifying segments, but he was unable to find any improvements on his final lap, but he still ended up on the front row of the grid, mimicking his result from the sprint qualifying.

Although Lando Norris was the star of sprint qualifying and the sprint race, he never looked as confident as earlier during the weekend. The Briton took third, with his team-mate Oscar Piastri completing an all-McLaren second row.

Ferrari were expected to struggle at the Lusail International Circuit, but a fifth place for Charles Leclerc and a seventh spot for Carlos Sainz mean that the Scuderia might dream of getting in the battle for the podium places.

Lewis Hamilton looked strong in the sprint race, but he struggled again for one-lap pace, ending up sixth on the grid.

Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso confirmed his car’s encouraging performance with an impressive eighth place, ahead of Sergio Perez, who enjoyed a much more promising performance after his early exit in SQ1 yesterday.

Haas driver Kevin Magnussen delivered another impressive performance to take tenth for the start of tomorrow's 57-lap race which could be vital tomorrow, with Haas and Alpine locked in a fierce battle for sixth place in the teams' standings.

The Q2 session was extremely closely-matched. Pierre Gasly was frustrated not to be able to make it out of Q2, finishing in P11, followed by the Kick Sauber duo of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas. RB driver Yuki Tsunoda and Aston Martin's Lance Stroll rounded out the top 15.

Williams endured a tough qualifying session, with Alexander Albon and Franco Colapinto failing to make it out of Q3, and they will line up 16th and 19th on the grid tomorrow. Liam Lawson ended up 17th fastest, ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, who endured a shock early elimination after his stellar performance in the sprint race.