As it happened: 2024 Qatar Grand Prix qualifying

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Qualifying for the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix is coming up next

McLaren showed strong pace yesterday in qualifying for the sprint race and could have locked out the front row of the grid. George Russell managed to split the two MCL38s and he looked like their biggest threat in today’s sprint race.

Drivers are queuing up at the end of the pits to join the track. Russell is first among them.

The session is go. Russell, who sat at the pit lane exit for a minute and a half, leads the drivers out.

Magnussen immediately loses his first lap time with a track limits infringement. Lando Norris, surely the favourite for pole position, sets a 1’22.029, but Max Verstappen beats that by three tenths of a second.

Russell moves to the top now with a 1’21.519, seven-tenths of a second quicker than team mate Lewis Hamilton who finished his lap a few seconds before him.

Sergio Perez, who was narrowly eliminated in the first round yesterday, moves up to seventh. No times from the Alpine drivers yet.

Perez has fallen to ninth. He says he ran out of battery energy at the end of his lap.

Everyone has set a representative time now and the five drivers in the drop zone are Hulkenberg, Magnussen, Zhou, Colapinto and Ocon.

The times are close: Perez and Leclerc are only safe by two-tenths of a second, so we could see an elimination among the front-runners if they have trouble in the final runs.

Leclerc has improved to fourth, Perez still in the pits for now with four minutes remaining. Russell offering to give Hamilton a tow.

Vertappen improves to fourth on used soft tyres, Perez has joined the track on a new set as he falls to 12th.

Few improvements at the moment – Norris sets a better time but it gets deleted for track limits.

Albon goes 15th, Colapinto stays 19th, Ocon stays last, so we know two drivers who are out.

Tsunoda narrowly escapes Q1 – but Lawson is out along with Albon. Hulkenberg also surprisingly failed to make the cut. Perez makes it comfortably through in eighth place.

Lawson says: “Alonso purposefully slowed up in nine and ten when he aborted his lap. That just sucks, man.” He race engineer Pierre Hamelin replies: “That was Stroll.”

Q2 is go. Russell puts up a 1’21.161 as the benchmark, Sainz is three tenths of a second slower. Piastri pops into second ahead of the Ferrari.

Verstappen shows more pace in the Red Bull, he goes quickest by seven-hundredths of a second. Norris goes fourth so the Red Bull is quickest for now.

Russell remarks the crosswind has picked up but it doesn’t stop him going quickest, by just a thousandth of a second.

Sainz is being investigated for an unsafe release involving Hamilton.

Norris gets down to a 1’20.983 which puts him top of the times. Verstappen now second. Perez sixth, having a much better qualifying session than yesterday.

Big improvement from Magnussen for sixth, Zhou narrowly misses Q3, Bottas goes 12th behind him.

Alonso goes seventh and puts Hamilton out but the Mercedes driver snatches fifth. Verstappen bangs in a 1’20.687 at the end to top the times, Perez only made it in by 12 thousandths of a second.

So Q3 is go without Gasly, Ocon, Zhou, Bottas and Tsunoda. Russell tells Mercedes to keep an eye on Piastri’s radio so he doesn’t give the McLaren driver a tow.

Drivers are employing various tactics to get tows from each other, Piastri trying to follow Leclerc on the pit straight. Leclerc is fastest so far on a 1’20.885.

Russell jumps to the top with a 1’20.575. Alonso loses his time for a track limits infringement. Hamilton goes up to third in the other Mercedes, four-tenths of a second off his team mate.

Norris had a messy lap and loses his time to a track limits infringement. Alonso is surprised his lap time was deleted: “Very close, I didn’t gain for sure.”

Here comes Verstappen. He goes second, four hundredths of a second off Russell.

Lambiase to Verstappen: “Not a bad lap with fuel on board. Half a tenth shy to Russell.”

Norris abandons his next attempt to set a time.

Drivers are jockeying for position to get a tow at the pit straight as that area is not covered by the maximum delta time (between Safety Car lines one and two).

Both McLaren drivers open their laps with personal best times of 29.7 seconds in the first sector. Verstappen is a tenth faster there, though.

Leclerc can’t improve on third. Norris takes third off him, Piastri goes fourth. Verstappen takes pole off Russell!

Russell complained that Verstappen got in his way during the session. Verstappen will be investigated for failing to obey the maximum delta time – his team mate was reprimanded for that yesterday.

So Verstappen claims his first pole position for a grand prix since Austria six months ago. Here’s our report on that qualifying session

2024 Qatar Grand Prix

• Horner ‘believes 100%’ Verstappen did not threaten to crash into Russell
• Russell and Verstappen cast new light on clash which triggered explosive row
• Hamilton’s puncture not caused by mirror debris – Mercedes
• Another start-to-finish win shows Qatar GP could be F1’s most processional race
• “Am I dead last now?” Unheard radio from Hamilton’s disastrous Qatar GP