Lando Norris has qualified in first place for Saturday’s Sprint Race at the Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix, followed by Mercedes’s George Russell and teammate Oscar Piastri.
SQ1
The first part of Sprint Qualifying was dominated by Lando Norris, who set the fastest time of 1:21.356, almost half a second faster than Carlos Sainz in P2. The Ferrari was followed by George Russell, who had an impressive performance last weekend in Las Vegas.
The elimination zone was Red Bull’s Sergio Perez knocked out in P16, ahead of sister team’s Yuki Tsunoda.
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon was also knocked out – he placed the 18th fastest time of the session, way behind teammate Pierre Gasly who achieved P13.
Guanyu Zhou was eliminated in P19 – no surprise there, unlike Franco Colapinto. The Argentine rookie who made an impressive debut in Formula 1 got the last place of the grid. His teammate, Alexander Albon, barely made it to SQ2 in P15.
SQ2
SQ2 did not differ much at the top, with Norris once again in P1 but this time followed by Russell and teammate Oscar Piastri in P3 by 0.317s.
The Ferraris, on the other hand, fell further back with Sainz only getting the sixth fastest time ahead of counterpart Charles Leclerc.
Current Champion Max Verstappen was 5th fastest behind Lewis Hamilton. The Silver Arrows are rumored to have implemented a DAS-like system that drastically improved their performance.
The elimination zone was Fernando Alonso in P11 followed by Albon, Valtteri Bottas, Lance Stroll and Kevin Magnussen.
SQ3
Nothing changed at the top in SQ3 with Norris first, followed by Russell, followed by Piastri. Sainz managed the fourth fastest time, an improvement after falling off a bit in SQ2, but teammate Leclerc only achieved P7.
Verstappen kept the fifth place while Hamilton fell behind him.
Liam Lawson had an impressive session. The RB F1 Team rookie achieved 8th place. Advancing to SQ2 was already an achievement for him, but he pushed further.
Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly completed the P9 and P10 spots respectively.