Lando Norris seemed to be on course to beat his team-mate before blowing his final lap with an error at the final corner.
The session was again dominated by the focus on track limits following the issues in Friday’s grand prix qualifying and changes to the Losail track prompted by Pirelli's discovery that repeated high-speed kerb impacts was damaging its tyres.
In Q3 – where all drivers ran soft tyres having progressed on mediums in both Q1 and Q2 – Verstappen lost his first flier for going too wide out of Turn 5, where wind was causing issues for the drivers.
That 1m24.453s lap, completed when the Red Bull driver’s soft tyres were at their freshest, still would not have been good enough to get ahead of the McLaren drivers when they completed their opening efforts later in the final segment.
Unlike at other sprint qualifying events this year, the Losail circuit's smooth new track surface meant the drivers were able to push on for multiple laps throughout the segment, with the cars also fuelled to run throughout in anticipation of possible extra runs being needed in case of times being lost due to track limits.
Piastri’s opening time was shaded by Norris’s 1m24.536s, which Verstappen failed to pip on his second attempt to end up behind the McLaren pair.
On their final runs, Piastri stole ahead with a 1m24.454s and the focus switched to Norris behind, as he had led his team-mate in the opening two sectors.
But when Norris ran very wide out of the final turn he abandoned his lap, which meant Piastri went one better than the second place he took in Spa sprint shootout qualifying earlier this year.
Behind the top three came George Russell, Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc, Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez, with all bar Russell boosted by Fernando Alonso losing his final Q3 time for a track limits off at Turn 13 and dropping him from fifth to ninth.
Esteban Ocon rounded out the Q3 top 10 for Alpine.
In Q2, Hulkenberg’s last-gasp improvement with the then quickest time in the middle sector knocked out Pierre Gasly.
Behind, Lewis Hamilton was the shock faller, losing two laps to track limits violations – including his final effort, which would not have been faster enough to progress in any case – as he ended up 12th ahead of Valtteri Bottas, Liam Lawson and Zhou Guanyu.
In Q1, Lance Stroll was eliminated in 16th – boosted by several drivers having their final times deleted, which included Alex Albon and Yuki Tsunoda, while behind this pair Kevin Magnussen and Logan Saregant also lost their final laps and ended up 19th and 20th.
Sargeant ended up without a representative time on the board at the foot of the pack in the second Williams after his initial efforts were also excluded for track limits violations at Turn 13, with a similar situation also impacting Zhou in Q2.
The session was preceded by a 10-minute effective warm-up session so the drivers could sample the new track limits at Turns 12 and 13 – painted kerbing lines onto the asphalt that reduce the track width by 80cm for the length of the kerbs at those points.
Verstappen topped the running, with a best time of 1m27.085s, which he concluded with another verbal joust with his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, who had wanted the Dutchman to finish a lap after he had gone so wide out of Turn 5 he found one of the few gravel traps at this venue.
Russell, Hamilton, Gasly, Lawson, Tsunoda, Stroll and Albon face a post-session investigation for failing to follow the race director’s instructions regarding the maximum laptime rule introduced for qualifying sessions in a bid to improve traffic issues.
Similar investigations at Monza and after yesterday’s grand prix qualifying session resulted in no further action as the drivers involved were found to have gone slowly to avoid impeding others.
Russell and Gasly were pinged over this issue twice – each with incidents in Q1 and Q2.
F1 Qatar Grand Prix Sprint Shootout Results:
Driver Info |
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Cla | Driver | # | Chassis | Engine | Time | km/h | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1 | O. Piastri McLaren | 81 | McLaren | Mercedes | 1'24.454 | 229.331 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
2 | L. Norris McLaren | 4 | McLaren | Mercedes | +0.082 | 229.109 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
3 | M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing | 1 | Red Bull | Red Bull | +0.192 | 228.811 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
4 | G. Russell Mercedes | 63 | Mercedes | Mercedes | +0.387 | 228.285 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
5 | C. Sainz Ferrari | 55 | Ferrari | Ferrari | +0.701 | 227.444 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
6 | C. Leclerc Ferrari | 16 | Ferrari | Ferrari | +0.793 | 227.198 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
7 | N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team | 27 | Haas | Ferrari | +0.866 | 227.004 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
8 | S. Perez Red Bull Racing | 11 | Red Bull | Red Bull | +0.928 | 226.839 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
9 | F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing | 14 | Aston Martin | Mercedes | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
10 | E. Ocon Alpine | 31 | Alpine | Renault | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
11 | P. Gasly Alpine | 10 | Alpine | Renault | +1.232 | 226.034 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
12 | L. Hamilton Mercedes | 44 | Mercedes | Mercedes | +1.508 | 225.308 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
13 | V. Bottas Alfa Romeo | 77 | Alfa Romeo | Ferrari | +1.782 | 224.592 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
14 | L. Lawson AlphaTauri | 40 | AlphaTauri | Red Bull | +2.130 | 223.690 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
15 | Z. Guanyu Alfa Romeo | 24 | Alfa Romeo | Ferrari | +30.092 | 169.084 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
16 | L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing | 18 | Aston Martin | Mercedes | +2.395 | 223.007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
17 | A. Albon Williams | 23 | Williams | Mercedes | +2.408 | 222.974 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
18 | Y. Tsunoda AlphaTauri | 22 | AlphaTauri | Red Bull | +2.472 | 222.810 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
19 | K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team | 20 | Haas | Ferrari | +2.984 | 221.505 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
20 | L. Sargeant Williams | 2 | Williams | Mercedes | +41.287 | 154.030 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
View full results |