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Verstappen earns 10th Pole Position of the year in Qatar, Perez P13
Max Verstappen will start Sunday's race from pole position in Qatar, after another great showing by the Red Bull driver. This was the Dutchman's tenth pole position of the year, not taking into account the one he achieved in Belgium. George Russell will start alongside the Dutchman, while 2021 pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton rounded off the Top 3 in the desert in qualifying.
Max Verstappen made a mistake on his final lap, but the gap at the front was quick enough to win qualifying. Lando Norris could have been on the front row, but he ran wide in his final lap, and as a result, did not set a lap in the final session of Friday. As a result, George Russell will be promoted to P2, and Norris' teammate, Oscar Piastri finished third.
Lewis Hamilton also made a mistake on his final lap and will start from P4, ahead of Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc. The latter struggled with the rear of his car during all three sessions but managed to outqualify his teammate, as Sainz got knocked out in Q2. The two Alpines will start from the fourth row of the grid in the order of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon, while one of the surprises of the day, Valtteri Bottas finished in ninth place with his Alfa Romeo.
UPDATE: Oscar Piastri's lap time was deleted during his post-qualifying interview, which means that the Australian will from P6 on Sunday, while Lewis Hamilton, Fernando Alonso and Charles Leclerc all gained a place respectively.
Q2
The two Ferrari drivers had an interesting second session on Friday, as both Leclerc and Sainz went wide after both of them lost the rear end of their cars, then the Spaniard also held up Verstappen. Sainz was eliminated, and his action will be investigated following qualifying. After finishing in P14 in Q1, Lewis Hamilton topped Q2.
At the bottom, alongside Sainz, Sergio Perez was also eliminated, as the Mexican’s lap was deleted for leaving the track in Turn 5. Yuki Tsunoda was 0.004 seconds away from overtaking Valtteri Bottas and another appearance in Q3, and alongside the Japanese driver, Alexander Albon and Nico Hulkenberg were also knocked out.
OUT - P15 Hulkenberg, P14 Albon, P13 Perez, P12 Sainz, P11 Tsunoda
Q1
Q1 got underway in challenging conditions thanks to the lack of free practise sessions and the windy and simultaneously warm weather in Qatar. On a constantly improving track, Max Verstappen was the fastest in the first session ahead of Lando Norris.
No frontrunner was knocked out in Q1, but Lewis Hamilton was on the edge finishing in P14. Five different teams’ drivers were knocked out, including Guanyu Zhou, Kevin Magnussen and Liam Lawson. Lance Stroll was more than a second slower than his teammate, Alonso, while Alex Albon beat Logan Sargeant by a single tenth for a place in Q2.
OUT - P20 Zhou, P19 Magnussen, P18 Lawson, P17 Stroll, P16 Sargeant