Verstappen beats Russell to surprise pole position in Qatar by just 0.055s

Max Verstappen has sealed a surprise pole position for the Qatar Grand Prix, the Dutchman bouncing back from earlier struggles in the Sprint to beat George Russell in the final moments of qualifying by just 0.055s while Lando Norris took third place.
After the names at the top of the leaderboard changed throughout the previous segments of qualifying, Russell had secured provisional pole during the initial runs of Q3. However, the newly-crowned four-time world champion Verstappen stormed through to snatch the position after the final efforts, marking his first Grand Prix pole position since Austria in June.
It was announced later on, though, that Verstappen had been noted by Race Control for allegedly going too slowly on his cooldown lap, with replays showing that Russell felt he had been impeded by the Red Bull.
Norris will start from P3, meaning that the Briton will share the second row with McLaren team mate Oscar Piastri in P4, while Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc took P5 and Lewis Hamilton was P6 for Mercedes.
Carlos Sainz put his Ferrari into seventh, with fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso having a decent outing for Aston Martin in eighth. Sergio Perez in the Red Bull and Haas’s Kevin Magnussen rounded out the top 10.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly took P11 after being pushed out in the final moments of Q2, a session in which the Kick Sauber duo of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas looked in racy form. Both drivers ultimately couldn’t quite reach Q3, though, ending up in P12 and P13 respectively.
Yuki Tsunoda found himself out of Q2 for RB in 14th, while the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll was the final name to depart in the middle part of qualifying in 15th.
In a close Q1 segment, Alex Albon missed out on progressing by just 0.026s, leaving the Williams man in P16. Liam Lawson was also left disappointed in the RB, exiting in P17 ahead of Haas’s Nico Hulkenberg in P18.
It was another tough session for the other Williams of Franco Colapinto, who could not improve on 19th, while Alpine’s Esteban Ocon will bring up the rear in 20th place.
Just hours after the final Sprint of the year took place at the Lusail International Circuit, the drivers and teams reassembled for qualifying in order to decide the grid for the penultimate race of the season, the Qatar Grand Prix.
It was a busy start as Q1 got under way at 2100 local time, with Russell amongst those to queue up in the pit lane in order to get some early mileage in. Leclerc, meanwhile, was left unhappy with the slow traffic heading out on track, the Monegasque commenting: “Nobody is moving, it’s crazy.”
As the first timed laps came in, Verstappen set the pace ahead of Norris – before Russell then displaced the Red Bull man at the top with his effort of 1m 21.519s, with all of the field sporting the soft tyre.
When everybody had put a time on the board, Russell continued to lead the way from Norris and Alonso, the Spaniard catching the eye by putting his Aston Martin into third with only a 0.089s deficit to Russell. At the other end of the timesheets, the drivers lingering in the elimination zone were the Haas pair of Hulkenberg and Magnussen, Zhou, Colapinto and Ocon.
Magnussen’s effort looked to have been hindered after going wide at Turn 4, but could he improve after bolting on a set of fresh soft tyres? As the session ticked into its final minutes, it appeared that nobody was exactly safe, with most of the field separated by less than one second.
Russell, meanwhile, offered to give Hamilton a tow if needed as the seven-time world champion looked to improve. Zhou was amongst those to better his original effort, the Kick Sauber driver moving up to P11 – ahead of team mate Bottas in P14.
Norris had a lap time deleted in the final two minutes, the Briton having exceeded track limits. Fortunately for him he remained in third, before being pushed down to fourth when Leclerc surged into P1 on a 1m 21.278s.
Further back, those in the drop zone were trying to escape danger and Albon was amongst those to do so. However, as Tsunoda also managed to improve, the Thai driver was pushed back down into P16, handing him an early exit alongside Lawson, Hulkenberg, Colapinto and Ocon.
Knocked out: Albon, Lawson, Hulkenberg, Colapinto, Ocon
The action soon continued as Q2 began, with Russell setting the early benchmark before Verstappen came through to go fastest, the world champion pumping in a time of 1m 21.085s to go seven-hundredths clear of the Mercedes.
Piastri and Norris followed in third and fourth, ahead of the other Red Bull of Perez in fifth. The Mexican – who dipped a wheel in the gravel on his cooldown lap – would surely be keen to have a good qualifying following another disappointing session in Friday’s Sprint Qualifying.
Alonso, meanwhile, aborted his effort, leaving him as the only driver without a lap on the board after the first runs. This put him provisionally at the bottom of the danger zone, behind Bottas, Zhou, Tsunoda and Stroll. Elsewhere, Sainz was noted for an unsafe release in the pits, an incident that will be investigated after the session.
With the margins again proving fine, there was plenty of action as attentions turned to the final push laps. Norris went just 0.066s quicker than Verstappen at the top with three minutes to spare, while Bottas was less than two-tenths away from making it into the top 10.
As the decisive efforts came in, Norris remained on top with his lap of 1m 20.983s, but all eyes were on those trying to escape the danger zone. Magnussen and Tsunoda both improved, while Zhou just missed out despite putting an impressive lap together.
Alonso then hauled himself up into the top 10, subsequently putting Hamilton in danger – before the Mercedes man also bettered his previous time to avoid elimination. Just as Verstappen snuck into P1 on a 1m 20.687s, those who missed out on progressing to Q3 were Gasly, Zhou, Bottas, Tsunoda and Stroll.
Knocked out: Gasly, Zhou, Bottas, Tsunoda, Stroll
With different names coming out on top in Q1 and Q2, there were plenty of question marks heading into Q3 – would McLaren, the previous favourites, face a threat from the likes of Verstappen, Leclerc and Russell?
Everybody – with the exception of Verstappen – headed out on track early as the top 10 shootout began, and it was Russell who slotted into P1 initially on an effort of 1m 20.575s, three-tenths clear of Leclerc in second, while Hamilton was four-tenths away in third. Alonso, meanwhile, had his time deleted after exceeding track limits.
Verstappen belatedly joined the action with just over five minutes left on the clock and promptly moved into P2, only 0.045s off Russell’s benchmark. Elsewhere Norris had returned to the track for a push-cool-push run, only to bail out of his effort.
The track was looking very busy as the session entered into its final minute, with everyone putting their final flying laps in. As much of the field failed to improve, focus turned to Russell and Verstappen – and it was the latter who stormed through to beat the former’s previous time by 0.055s.
However, Race Control noted Verstappen for allegedly driving too slowly on his cooldown lap, with Russell feeling that he had been impeded by the world champion in this moment.
Norris and Piastri took third and fourth respectively for McLaren, hours on from their Sprint success, while Leclerc was fifth for Ferrari ahead of future team mate Hamilton in sixth and Sainz, Alonso, Perez and Magnussen completed the order from seventh to 10th respectively.
“[It was] crazy! Honestly, I also didn’t expect that,” said Verstappen. “Well done to the team to give me a car that feels a bit more connected. Once the car is together you can also push harder. It felt a lot better out there in qualifying for me.
“We did change a bit on the car but I never thought it would make such a swing in performance so that’s promising. I hope of course it also lasts tomorrow in the race – I don’t know that yet. It just felt already a lot more stable over one lap and that’s exactly what we need. Very happy to be on pole – it’s been a while.”
The 2024 Qatar Grand Prix is set to begin at 1900 local time on Sunday. Head to the RACE HUB to find out how you can catch the action from the Lusail International Circuit.