Verstappen Snatches Pole for 2024 Qatar GP

Verstappen Secures Pole Position for the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix

Max Verstappen secured pole position for the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix.

After a challenging sprint race where he placed eighth, Verstappen bounced back by leading Q2 and Q3. In the final segment, he clinched pole position by edging out Mercedes’ George Russell by just 0.055 seconds.

However, Russell was awarded pole position after Verstappen received a one-position penalty for obstructing the Briton during a cooldown lap.

McLaren secured both spots on the second row, with Lando Norris in third place and Oscar Piastri in fourth.

Russell was the first to hit the track, but it was Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas who initially set the pace with a time of 1m 22.758. However, once all drivers completed their laps, Russell led the standings with a lap time of 1m 21.519, surpassing Bottas by just 0.059 seconds.

Nico Hulkenberg and Kevin Magnussen of Haas occupied the 16th and 17th positions, respectively, ahead of Guanyu Zhou, Franco Colapinto, and Esteban Ocon.

As the checkered flag waved, Ocon and Colapinto were unable to improve their times, ending up behind Hulkenberg who secured only 18th place. Ahead of him were just Liam Lawson and Alex Albon.

Russell led Q1 with a time of 1:21.241, followed by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.

Russell was the first to hit the track, setting an initial benchmark of 1m 21.161. Verstappen swiftly surpassed this by reducing it by 0.076 seconds to achieve a time of 1m 21.085.

Once nearly all drivers had set their lap times, the bottom five consisted of Bottas, Zhou, Yuki Tsunoda, Lance Stroll, and Fernando Alonso—the latter being the only driver to have his time deleted for exceeding track limits during his flying lap.

With five minutes remaining, Russell edged out Verstappen’s initial lap time by just 0.001 seconds. However, a minute later, the Dutchman reclaimed the top spot with a time of 1m 21.049, only to be overtaken shortly afterwards by Norris who clocked in at 1m 20.983—a full 0.066 seconds faster than Verstappen.

At the checkered flag, Gasly narrowly missed advancing to Q3 by just 0.012 seconds behind Perez and will start in 11th position, ahead of Bottas, Zhou, Tsunoda, and Stroll.

On his final lap, Verstappen clocked in at 1 minute and 20.687 seconds to lead Q2 ahead of Norris.

Similar to Q1 and Q2, Russell initially led the track action but chose to complete two warm-up laps. This decision allowed Magnussen to set a benchmark time of 1m 21.500 on used soft tyres.

However, shortly after, Leclerc recorded a time of 1m 20.885 to take the lead from Sainz, while Alonso’s lap time was deleted.

After everyone completed a lap, Russell led the standings with a time of 1m 20.575, followed by Verstappen, Leclerc, Hamilton, Sainz, Piastri, Magnussen, Perez and Alonso. Norris had aborted his first run but was still in the mix.

Once the checkered flag was waved, Verstappen edged out Russell for a fifth F1 pole with a time of 1m 20.520, beating the Brit by just 0.050 seconds. Meanwhile, Norris and Piastri secured spots on the second row for McLaren.

Position: Driver | Team | Time

1. Max Verstappen, Red Bull – 1:20.520

2nd Place: George Russell, Mercedes, +0.055 seconds

3rd: Lando Norris, McLaren, +0.252 seconds

4th place: Oscar Piastri, McLaren, +0.309 seconds

5th: Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, trailing by 0.332 seconds

6. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, +0.491

7th: Carlos Sainz, Ferrari, +0.521

8th place: Fernando Alonso, Aston Martin, +0.731 seconds

9th place: Sergio Perez, Red Bull, +0.905

10. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) +0.980

11th place: Pierre Gasly, Alpine team, with a time of 1 minute and 21.437 seconds

12. Guanyu Zhou, Sauber, +0.064

13. Valtteri Bottas (Sauber) +0.294

14. Yuki Tsunoda RB +0.334

15th: Lance Stroll, Aston Martin, +0.474 seconds

16th: Alex Albon, Williams team – 1 minute 22.390 seconds

17th place: Liam Lawson (RB) +0.021 seconds

18th place: Nico Hulkenberg, Haas, +0.052 seconds behind

19 Franco Colapinto, Williams, +0.204 seconds

Esteban Ocon finished 20th driving for Alpine, with a time gap of +0.324 seconds.