Oscar Piastri claimed pole for Saturday’s Qatar Grand Prix Sprint on his first visit to Lusail, the Aussie leading a front row lockout for McLaren, with teammate Lando Norris clocking in second.
Max Verstappen’s best effort was only good enough for third, while George Russell secured fourth as Mercedes’ sole representative in the SQ3.
Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc benefitted from a Fernando Alonso’s lap time deletion to seal P5 and P6 for Ferrari.
Teams were sent an overnight brief by Pirelli that highlighted a safety concern with the manufacturer’s tyres caused by Lusail’s new kerbs.
In a nutshell, Pirelli feared that extensive running over the kerbs could potentially harm the integrity of tyre’s sidewall.
This triggered a change to track limits at Turn 12-13 and the addition of a 10-minute practice session – or a warm-up of sorts – before the Sprint Shootout to allow everyone to familiarize themselves with the track limit changes.
But further rule changes and restrictions could be applied for Sunday’s race – including a mandated tyre life – depending on the results of Pirelli’s analysis of its product after Saturday’s running.
SQ1: Russell leads amid flurry of track limit breaches
The Ferrari pair of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, both on mediums, led the field at the start of the first 12-minute segment. But Norris, followed by Perez and Piastri were the early leaders.
However, Russell shot to the top with a 1m26.359s before Verstappen went fastest with a 1m25.510s. Gasly had slotted into second but the Alpine charger’s time was deleted in short order for track limits at Turn 13.
As the final minutes snuck up on the field, Verstappen remained ahead, with Norris, Russell and Piastri close behind.
But Leclerc, lingering down in 16th position, was in danger. But the Monegasque managed to dig in and lift himself up the pecking order.
Not so unfortunately for Stroll and for both Williams drivers, with Tsunoda and Magnussen also eliminated in the frantic closing seconds, the whole group falling victim to track limit infringements.
SQ2: Norris tops segment as Hamilton stumbles
Russell – still on the medium compound tyre – continued to front run his colleagues at the start of the second segment, but Verstappen again led the early runners.
However, a tidy lap by Norris pushed the McLaren driver to the top, while both Alfa Romeos, Lawson, Gasly and Hulkenberg were sat in the drop zone.
Norris and Verstappen pulled off into the pitlane, apparently content with their efforts. But Hamilton, sitting on the margin, pressed on. However, a final effort by Sainz knocked out the Mercedes driver.
Hulkenberg on the other hand made his lap count to join the final top ten from which Gasly, Hamilton, Bottas, Lawson and Zhou were all excluded.
SQ3: McLaren boys offer front-row lockout to team papaya
With everyone one now on the soft rubber, Verstappen bolted out of the pits at the start of the final 8 minutes of sprint qualifying, the Dutchman followed by the second Red Bull of Perez while the rest of the field remained in the pits.
Verstappen set the provisional pole but the stewards disagreed with his interpretation of track limits at Turn 5 which put him back onto square 1.
Meanwhile Perez’s flyer was legit, but the Mexican was overhauled by both McLarens, with Norris edging Piastri by just 0.039s.
Now on his second try, Verstappen lit up the screens but fell short of beating team papaya’s best.
The final runs were therefore an exclusive McLaren affair. On a charge, Piastri went top with a 1m24.454s to which Norris could not reply after running wide at the final corner.
It’ll therefore be a front row lockout for the Woking-based outfit for this evening’s Sprint.
Russell will be sat in P4 alongside Verstappen on the second, with Sainz and Leclerc sharing row 3.
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