Arguably the most important qualifying session of the 2024 Formula 1 season took place under the lights at the Lusail International Circuit on Saturday night. With McLaren inching closer to winning the constructors' championship in 2024 and both Ferrari and Red Bull hoping to stay in the fight, every position on the grid matters.
George Russell broke early benchmarks early in Q3 to put his W15 on provisional pole with a lead of more than three-tenths over Charles Leclerc. McLaren's Lando Norris retired from the first push lap after a snap in Turn 4 sent his MCL38 off the racing line. He also managed to escape on his second attempt at a push lap after falling behind Russell in the slow first sector. Norris was now one stroke away from taking pole position.
Norris wasn't as good as Max Verstappen, who took his first pole position since July's Austrian Grand Prix 12 races earlier.
Verstappen denied Russell a second consecutive pole position when he started in front at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. However, Russell will start alongside Verstappen on the front row on Sunday.
McLaren inched closer to winning the constructors' championship with Oscar Piastri and Norris achieving a one-two finish in the F1 sprint race earlier in the day, but Norris qualified 3rd and Piastri 4th, leaving them in the second row. I secured my eyes.
“It wasn't the position we wanted yesterday and today, but it was certainly the best we could have been,” Norris told Jolyon Palmer trackside after qualifying.
Still, with the McLaren duo starting ahead of Ferrari, McLaren remains in good shape for Sunday's main event. But Norris acknowledged that the field is incredibly tough. “There's not that much of a difference between all of us, so it gives us hope that we can still move forward, but at the same time there are some really fast cars behind us.”
“The last three races have been really great for us,” Russell told Palmer after qualifying. “I’m happy to be back in the lead and join the team.”
However, it was Verstappen who was the talk of the town, finishing eighth in the evening's F1 sprint race, marking a stunning comeback from a sixth-place start.
“It's crazy,” Verstappen said when asked about the comeback from Palmer. “I wasn't expecting that either, but I'm really grateful to the team for giving me a car that felt so well connected.
“We made some small changes to the car, but I didn't expect the performance to change so much,” Verstappen added. “I’m very happy to be on pole position after a long time.”
Verstappen outlined that Sunday's main event would be “tough” for teams and drivers.
“I think it's going to be a tough race physically, but I think the main problem is with the tires. If we do well, the left front around here will be eaten up quite a bit, so we'll see how we manage that tomorrow. It's all about that,” Verstappen added.
Pierre Gasly's incredible qualifying run, his first since the American Grand Prix, came to an end at the Lusail International Circuit, with the Alpine driver narrowly missing out on qualifying for Q3 by just 0.012 points and was due to start 11th at the Qatar Grand Prix. The other four drivers eliminated in Q2 were the Sauber pair of Chou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas, Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll.
Five drivers were eliminated in Q1: Esteban Ocon, Nico Hulkenberg, Liam Lawson and the Williams pair of Franco Colapinto and Alexander Albon.
The full qualifying results for the Qatar GP are below.
