F1 Qatar GP: Verstappen beats Russell in qualifying…

UPDATE: Verstappen stripped of Qatar GP pole position after being handed a one-place grid penalty

Max Verstappen took his first Formula 1 pole since June after headlining Qatar Grand Prix qualifying, after knocking George Russell off the top of the order by 0.055s.

After a series of struggles across the sprint sessions, Red Bull unearthed extra pace to compete for the fastest time in qualifying, and Verstappen praised the turnaround in fortunes over the radio after clinching pole.

Russell had set the pace on the opening tours of Q3 with a 1m20.575s, but his own efforts to improve on his second lap of the final session ended after losing time in the second and third sectors. This opened the gate for Verstappen, who scorched to a 1m20.520s to chip 0.055s out of Russell's benchmark.

Verstappen nonetheless has an investigation pending with the stewards having been pinged for apparently surpassing the maximum allowed laptime on one of his sighter laps.

Sprint winner Lando Norris took third on the grid as McLaren seemed to drop back in qualifying versus its Friday one-lap pace, and starts Sunday's race alongside Oscar Piastri on the second row of the grid.

Charles Leclerc bagged fifth on the grid ahead of Lewis Hamilton, as the Mercedes driver split the two Ferraris on Sunday's grid, while Fernando Alonso booked himself into eighth.

Although Kevin Magnussen seemed on for ninth on the grid with his early opening timed lap to the session, he was just nudged down to 10th by Sergio Perez by just 0.075s.

Pierre Gasly was edged out of a Q3 appearance at the final blow of the whistle as he was on the receiving end of a flurry of late improvements for Hamilton and Alonso.

Alonso, who was yet to set a lap in Q2 after aborting his earlier effort, fired his way up to a provisional seventh in the order with his final tour. This put Hamilton into the bottom five, but the seven-time world champion swiftly responded with a lap good enough for fifth.

This left Gasly out of luck, having been just 0.012s shy of Perez on the other side of the cut-off line. He was nonetheless clear of Zhou Guanyu, who appeared energised by Sauber's upgrades and clinched 12th on the grid - two tenths clear of team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

Yuki Tsunoda was 14th as RB was still apparently short on pace in Qatar, as Lance Stroll was also eliminated in the intermediate qualifying stage.

Alex Albon was dropped into the bottom five at the climax of Q1 by Tsunoda, who crept above the cut-off line despite having not set a personal best sector in any of the three splits around the Losail circuit.

Unlike Tsunoda, Liam Lawson could not escape the drop zone on his final tour, but outqualified sprint-race points-scorer Nico Hulkenberg. The German received an apology over the radio from race engineer Gary Gannon, who noted that the team hadn't "got the softs right".

Franco Colapinto and Esteban Ocon also earned early exits from qualifying after propping up the order in Q1.

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Chassis	Engine	Time	km/h
1	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	Red Bull	Red Bull	1'20.520	242.280
2	G. Russell Mercedes	63	Mercedes	Mercedes	+0.055 1'20.575	242.114
3	L. Norris McLaren	4	McLaren	Mercedes	+0.252 1'20.772	241.524
4	O. Piastri McLaren	81	McLaren	Mercedes	+0.309 1'20.829	241.353
5	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	Ferrari	Ferrari	+0.332 1'20.852	241.285
6	L. Hamilton Mercedes	44	Mercedes	Mercedes	+0.491 1'21.011	240.811
7	C. Sainz Ferrari	55	Ferrari	Ferrari	+0.521 1'21.041	240.722
8	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	Aston Martin	Mercedes	+0.731 1'21.251	240.100
9	S. Perez Red Bull Racing	11	Red Bull	Red Bull	+0.905 1'21.425	239.587
10	K. Magnussen Haas F1 Team	20	Haas	Ferrari	+0.980 1'21.500	239.366
11	P. Gasly Alpine	10	Alpine	Renault	+0.917 1'21.437	239.552
12	Z. Guanyu Sauber	24	Sauber	Ferrari	+0.981 1'21.501	239.363
13	V. Bottas Sauber	77	Sauber	Ferrari	+1.211 1'21.731	238.690
14	Y. Tsunoda RB	22	RB	Red Bull	+1.251 1'21.771	238.573
15	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	Aston Martin	Mercedes	+1.391 1'21.911	238.165
16	A. Albon Williams	23	Williams	Mercedes	+1.870 1'22.390	236.781
17	L. Lawson RB	30	RB	Red Bull	+1.891 1'22.411	236.720
18	N. Hulkenberg Haas F1 Team	27	Haas	Ferrari	+1.922 1'22.442	236.631
19	F. Colapinto Williams	43	Williams	Mercedes	+2.074 1'22.594	236.196
20	E. Ocon Alpine	31	Alpine	Renault	+2.194 1'22.714	235.853
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