McLaren
McLaren did not start the day particularly strongly on the hard tyre in FP1, but once the soft tyres went on both drivers looked rapid. Norris seemed to just have the edge at the start of Sprint Qualifying, but not by much. But once the mediums came off and the softs went on, Piastri was the man to nail his lap when it mattered. He even admitted to leaving some time out there after a hairy moment in Turn 4, but he did enough to beat Norris. In fact, his team mate is not even on the front row after Norris made a mistake on his first flying run, then lost his second to track limits after being hampered by starting the lap too close to Albon’s Williams.
Lando Norris, 3rd, 1:20.285
“A frustrating Sprint Qualifying session. The pace was there, but I didn’t get a proper chance to show it. I made a mistake on the first lap, and my second lap was compromised when Alex [Albon] got ahead. We’ll see what we can do from P3 tomorrow, as always, we’ll go out and fight for the win. It can be tricky to pass here, but that’s exactly what I’ll try to do."
Oscar Piastri, 1st, 1:20.055
"A great start to the weekend. The car felt very good throughout all of Sprint Qualifying, so thank you to the team. The pace has been there all day, so it was good to be able to put it together. We’ll review overnight to see what we can do to make sure we finish at the front in the Sprint tomorrow and set ourselves up properly for Qualifying."
Andrea Stella, Team Principal
"The weekend got off to a good start, with Oscar starting from Pole position in the Sprint and Lando in third position. The most important thing is that the car has proven to be fast on this track, and we know where we can still improve performance. This is only the first step and there is still a long way to go, starting with tomorrow afternoon's Sprint."
Mercedes
Russell was quick on the hards in practice, but fell back on the softs after failing to nail a flying run. As such, his form was a little unknown going into Sprint Qualifying. But Russell looked strong throughout, even though Mercedes seemed to need a double warm-up lap on the medium tyres. He wound up grabbing second on the grid, between the two McLaren cars and inserting himself right into the midst of the Championship fight. Antonelli is a few places back, as he seemed to need a little longer to get to grips with the circuit.
George Russell, 2nd, 1:20.087
"I am very happy with how today went. I’ve been enjoying these past few qualifying sessions a lot, pushing the car to its limit and having it respond in the way that I want it to. That has enabled us to make the most out of the package we have and bag some strong results. Today was no different. P2 is a great result and to split the McLarens isn’t something we thought we would do ahead of the session.
"It’s going to be difficult to overtake in tomorrow’s Sprint so the race could potentially be decided coming out of the first corner. Starting on the front-row obviously helps and we will be aiming to score good points, even if we can’t fight for the win. The track here is really enjoyable, with a helpful high grip surface, so I’m looking forward to the rest of the weekend."
Kimi Antonelli, 7th, 1:20.532
"Qualifying P7 for tomorrow’s Sprint isn’t where we want to be starting. It is a tricky track and I made a few mistakes, particularly in SQ2 where I was fortunate to progress to SQ3 with the deleted lap time for Hadjar. Those moments cost me a bit of confidence and set me back a little bit for SQ3. Without that, there was definitely more pace to be found, and we could have been starting further forward in the field.
"It is a high grip circuit and the car balance felt good throughout practice and Sprint Qualifying. It was a shame not to maximise the potential of the car. Tomorrow is a new day though; we will analyse all the data overnight and have a look at my driving as well to understand how to improve and make the most out of the car. There is still a good chance of scoring decent points in the Sprint before the all-important qualifying session for Sunday’s race later in the evening."
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
"It’s been a bit of a challenge getting the car into a decent window on the various tyre compounds today. We had solid pace on the Hard tyre at the start of FP1 and the long run looked competitive, but when we jumped to the Soft compound for some low fuel work, the grip wasn’t there, and we finished the session in P10 and P14. With so little data from just one practice session, it’s always a tricky decision whether to focus on the setup or the tyres. We decided to change both which is a bit of a risk on a Sprint weekend, although it did seem that our single lap pace had improved. George was relatively happy with the car by SQ3.
"We can’t seem to match McLaren in the high speed but for the rest of the lap we are competitive. Kimi felt that the car was good but underestimated the grip and was left wishing he’d pushed a bit harder. It wouldn’t have taken much for him to make it onto the second row but it’s encouraging for qualifying tomorrow evening if there is a bit more to come. The Sprint tomorrow will hopefully deliver useful learning and it’s a good opportunity to add a few more points."
Aston Martin
Alonso had a great day in Lusail, as he grabbed a brilliant fourth on the grid for the Sprint. He was fast in practice, fast throughout Sprint Qualifying and fast when it mattered, getting the beating of both Red Bulls. He is well placed to score, which is just as well as Aston Martin are one point behind Haas in the fight for P7 in the Championship. Stroll could not extract the same kind of pace as his team mate, and exited at the first time of asking.
Fernando Alonso, 4th, 1:20.450
"One of the better qualifying results of the year for us. The car felt in the window from FP1 and then we managed to put the laps together nicely in Sprint Qualifying despite some challenges with traffic. Let's go one step at a time and do the Sprint tomorrow and try to improve even further into Qualifying."
Lance Stroll, 16th, 1:21.807
"I didn't manage to put the laps together tonight. At the end of SQ1, I hit some traffic in Turn 1 where it got a little messy and missed out on getting through to SQ2. Tomorrow is going to be tricky starting the Sprint from P16, but we'll see what we can do."
Red Bull
Verstappen was unhappy from word go in Qatar, complaining about the steering, tyres and even bouncing. The team tried to make some changes before Sprint Qualifying, but they did not appease the Dutchman who still lacked pace, especially on the soft compound tyre. He had to abort his first run in SQ3 after going wide, and could not extract enough pace on his second to factor at the front. All of which led to Tsunoda out-qualifying his team mate for the first time this season, albeit by just 0.009s.
Max Verstappen, 6th, 1:20.528
“Today wasn’t great for us, from the first stint we just had really bad bouncing and aggressive understeer. This would also shift into oversteer in the high speed, which is not what you need to go faster and when you are locked in. Of course, we tried to change a few things on the wheel but it never really worked so that made it quite tricky. We made some other changes after FP1 but it didn’t make too much difference in Sprint Qualifying so that is something we need to understand. Tomorrow in the Sprint, with this balance, it will not be a lot of fun and we will need to make some changes going into Qualifying."
Yuki Tsunoda, 5th, 1:20.519
“So far it has been a clean weekend for me and pretty smooth, there had been no major issues in FP1 and that gave me more confidence going into Sprint Qualifying. It is good that it’s been uneventful so far! We have to put it all together, there are three more sessions to go and these are especially important to the Team and Max, both sides of the garage are very focussed and we are all giving our maximum. I am happy with the car but there is still some work to do ahead of tomorrow to find those extra tenths but I am excited."
Hannah Schmitz, Principal Strategy Engineer
"FP1 was a useful practice session for us, we were able to do some good high-fuel running which was helpful ahead of the Sprint tomorrow and the race on Sunday. We also were able to take a look at the Soft tyre on low-fuel which will be beneficial. Sprint Quali, unfortunately, didn't go the way we hoped it would have, so that's something we can learn from for the rest of the weekend. We've got another Qualifying tomorrow to make amends and I think we can still have a positive Sprint. Having the 25-lap enforcement will shake things up a little on Sunday, as ordinarily you'd want to follow a one-stop here, but it will be interesting to see how each team interprets the ruling."
Williams
Williams did not expect this track to suit their car, but they looked fast from word go in Qatar. Both drivers made it to SQ3 with ease, with Sainz getting the beating of his team mate to the tune of a couple of tenths of a second. They will be targeting points in the Sprint, especially given their closest rivals Racing Bulls did not manage to get a car into the top 10.
Alex Albon, 10th, 1:20.788
"Alex Albon: It’s been a better start to the weekend than we thought it would be. We aren’t the quickest car out there, but we are in a decent position after only having one practice session today before Sprint qualifying. We came out of the garage too late in SQ3, so we had to scramble a bit to make it to the chequered flag. We have a decent car heading into the Sprint and qualifying, so we’ll look to maximise all our opportunities tomorrow."
Carlos Sainz, 8th, 1:20.542
"It’s been a very positive day for us at a track where, on paper, we could have struggled. We chose an experimental set-up which we haven’t tried yet this year, and it seems to have paid off, so I’m happy with that. It’s encouraging to see both cars in SQ3 and, as usual, our car felt stronger on the harder compounds. There was less than a tenth between P4 and P8, so we’ll see what we can do tomorrow in the Sprint and later in qualifying!"
Ferrari
Ferrari struggled in the only practice session, looking off the pace as Leclerc complained about his steering. Making the top 10 in Sprint Qualifying looked a tough ask, but Hamilton could not even make it out of the first segment, falling early as he did in Qualifying in Las Vegas. He radioed to say the car would not go quicker, as he seemed bereft of ideas. Leclerc did just about make the top 10, but in SQ3, he could only qualify ninth on a day where Ferrari did not look fast.
Charles Leclerc, 9th, 1:20.622
"Our qualifying could have been better, and I think that we had the potential to be in the top 5 today. The car ahead of me slowed down before turn 15 on my final lap, so I couldn’t build enough of a gap and started the lap too close to him. It’s part of the game, but it was unfortunate for us. I’ll push in the Sprint race tomorrow and hope to have some good battles."
Lewis Hamilton, 18th, 1:22.043
"Tough day out there. We tried a couple of different set ups and it just didn’t work out for us, but we’ll dig into the data tonight and figure out how to come back fighting for a better day tomorrow."
Racing Bulls
Hadjar looked very quick in practice and had high hopes of a decent starting slot. But despite impressing at the start of Sprint Qualifying, he lost his final lap time in SQ2 to track limits and found himself eliminated in disappointing fashion. Lawson had already exited in SQ1 after a tricky day. He damaged his floor in FP1 after running wide over the kerbs, and never looked quite on the pace of his team mate.
Isack Hadjar, 11th, 1:21.433
“It was a frustrating Sprint Qualifying. I was doing a good lap but then got track limits in Turn 8, which is a shame as the car has been pretty fast today since FP1. Looking at tomorrow’s Sprint, I expect it to be a bit of a DRS train race, and therefore it will be difficult to make up some ground and score points. We’ll take the positives from today ahead of the main Qualifying.”
Liam Lawson, 17th, 1:21.851
“We struggled with balance a lot today. After FP1, we had to make quite a big step and ended up compromising a lap. It's tough with how close it is at the moment as I would've liked one more lap, but unfortunately that wasn't the case. It will be a learning ahead of the Sprint Race and Qualifying tomorrow, and we'll try to move forward as much as possible."
Mattia Spini, Chief Race Engineer
“Historically this venue has challenged us, but the preparation work carried out was strong. FP1 showed a high lap time evolution as usual, but higher overall grip than expected. Isack showed competitive pace, while Liam struggled more with balance and was unable to complete his second push lap on the Soft compound. For Sprint Qualifying, our priority was achieving the correct balance for the lower track temperatures and the Medium tyre, while planning the optimal run structure to extract the most from the tyres and the evolving track. Liam continued to face car handling difficulties and unfortunately, did not progress to SQ2. Isack demonstrated solid pace, but his key SQ2 lap was deleted for track limits, leaving us to start from P11. That lap would have secured SQ3. As always, we will work to maximise every opportunity and target the strongest possible outcome.”
Haas
Haas are embroiled in a tight fight with Aston Martin in the Championship, but saw their rivals get one car into the top 10 in Qatar. The American team could not follow suit, with Bearman their lead driver in P12. Points are not out of the question from there, but it will take quite the start from the youngster if he wants to challenge for the top eight tomorrow.
Esteban Ocon, 15th, 1:21.666
“It was a difficult session, really. We just can’t get the car to go around the track properly, and it’s very difficult for us in high-speed parts, there’s instability, and we have understeer in the low-speed corners. It makes things tricky as we can’t add front wing at the moment, so we suffer in both types of corners, and that’s where the lap time is unfortunately. We made a lot of changes between the sessions today, which improved things, but overall there are still some things that we can do better.”
Oliver Bearman, 12th, 1:21.494
“I think tyre wear is a little bit less of a factor than in previous years. As tracks age, they get rougher and this year with the tyres we have, it’s a simpler warm up. Unfortunately, on my final lap, I was behind a driver who kept going off, so I had a lot of gravel on track, which is mainly an issue of the circuit. A lot of us have said that gravel being at that corner isn’t the best way to solve issues because we then have it everywhere, damaging tyres and ruining laps. I also had traffic in sector three, so it was the perfect storm. I think it’s going to be very hard to overtake on this track as there’s only one DRS zone and a short one at that. The target will be to learn as much as possible before qualifying tomorrow. I feel we have a quicker car than what we showed just now, so I’m happy about that, I’m just a bit disappointed with this qualifying.”
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal
“I think we did a good job improving the car between sessions, and both drivers were much happier with the balance, so that’s pleasing to see how much improvement we can make. In SQ1, operationally it was very good, but in SQ2, not so much and it’s all about tiny margins, that’s what matters. We’ve learned quite a lot today, so for the Sprint we'll learn as much as possible so we can set the car up more competitively for Sunday’s race.”
Kick Sauber
Bortoleto is carrying a grid drop from Las Vegas, which will be applied to Sunday’s Grand Prix. As such, he was free to qualify today. Both cars looked quick in SQ1 and even seemed in the mix for the top 10, but they faded in SQ2 as others began to turn up the wick. The Brazilian out-qualified his team mate though, which Hulkenberg will want to do something about over one lap tomorrow. The German was left a little frustrated after going slower in SQ2 than he managed in SQ1.
Nico Hulkenberg, 14th, 1:21.631
"I felt quite happy with the car, the track was grippy and I made it through SQ1 comfortably. I was on a good final lap in SQ2 but had some oversteer at the final corner and ended up going wide: looking at the data, it might have been enough to make it to SQ3. We’ll do our best in the Sprint, but the main focus is on qualifying: there will be changes to the cars and the order can be reshuffled a bit.”
Gabriel Bortoleto, 13th, 1:21.567
“I think we did quite okay today, though I feel like we could have squeezed something more out of our car. I didn’t have much grip in the first push in SQ2, and after a quick stop in the pits for some fine-tuning, the second run felt better. It’s obviously a bit disappointing to miss SQ3 by just a tenth and a half, but that’s how close it is out there. Looking at tomorrow’s Sprint, we know overtaking here won’t be easy. We’ll keep pushing, aim for a clean Sprint, and then move forward to deliver a clean Qualifying as well."
Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal
“Overall, it was an encouraging start to Sprint Qualifying. Both cars progressed through SQ1 cleanly, and we felt optimistic about reaching SQ3. Nico was definitely on course to make it, but running wide at the final corner on his last timed lap ultimately cost him. Up to that point, the lap looked very strong.
“For Gabi, the balance on his first run wasn’t where he needed it to be. We made an adjustment for the second attempt, but he wasn’t quite able to string the lap together. While we didn’t advance as far as we hoped, we have clear areas to build on for the upcoming sessions.”
Alpine
Gasly ran wide in practice, kicking up dirt and gravel in his wake as he struggled to get the best from his car. Colapinto was not faring much better, and Sprint Qualifying always looked a tough ask for the team. So it proved, with the two Alpine drivers grabbing slots on the back row of the grid. Gasly out-qualified his team mate, but their Sprint looks set to be more of a test run for the Grand Prix than anything else from there.
Pierre Gasly, 19th, 1:22.112
“It was a tough Sprint Qualifying for us today and a disappointing end result. On my final lap in SQ1, I just struggled right away at Turn 1 with cold tyres and the grip was just not there opening the lap and we lost a lot of time. After that, the tyres picked up in temperature and Sectors 2 and 3 were much better but the damage was already done from the very start of the lap. It would have been tight to reach SQ2 - we were maybe not quite quick enough today - but at least we have something to learn from and hopefully we can improve for tomorrow's Qualifying.”
Franco Colapinto, 20th, 1:22.364
“Looking at the result from Sprint Qualifying, it clearly isn't where we wanted to be and not the best outcome. I felt we were quite competitive straight out of the blocks in FP1, and we didn't look too bad on the Hard tyres. I didn't do a representative lap on the Softs, as we had a big snap and lost a lot of time. With the gravel traps being so close to the exit of the corners here, any mistake or running wide gets punished and you risk damaging the floor, which we did during practice and impacted our preparations a bit. There's definitely some things we need to analyse and consider for the remainder of the weekend and test a few things. The car felt trickier to drive in the evening session in particular and we will look at what we can do to change that tomorrow.”
Pirelli
Simone Berra, Chief Engineer
“Today we definitely had better track conditions compared to last year, when the wind had deposited a lot of sand on the surface, which affected grip considerably. The current grip levels, combined with the evolution of the cars since last year, meant that the lap times were not only lower than the equivalent sessions from last year, but also than the simulations.
"In the single free practice session, teams chose to get to grips with the track using the hard compound – leaving them with one set for the race on Sunday – before concluding the session on the soft.
"The difference between the soft tyre and the C2 medium was clearly seen in sprint qualifying, with a performance gap of around six to seven tenths of a second, while the run plans that the teams were carrying out in FP1 make it harder to define the gap to the hard compound. However, it would appear to be smaller than the predicted simulations.
"On their flying qualifying laps the drivers were able to recover performance from one lap to the next, especially on the medium tyre, thanks also to track evolution that was more pronounced with every lap.
"At the end of the sessions, we saw cuts on the tread of some of the tyres caused by gravel pulled onto the circuit by cars that went off into the new gravel traps alongside the track. While the damage isn’t enough to cause any loss of pressure, we’re going to be a close eye on the condition of the tyres during tomorrow’s running.”
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