Official F1 Journal Friday Round Up - Qatar Grand Prix

28/11/2024

Lando Norris will start on Pole for tomorrow's Sprint race, followed by George Russell in P2 and Oscar Piastri in P3.

Sainz will start the Sprint race in fourth, followed by Leclerc, Verstappen, Hamilton, Gasly, Hulkenberg and Lawson rounding out the top ten.

Sergio Perez and Tsunoda failed to make it out of SQ1. Aston Martins, Valtteri Bottas, and Alex Albon also failed to make it through to SQ3.

Charles Leclerc topped the only Free Practice of the weekend in an uneventful Free Practice One session.

Free Practice One

Top 10 Results
1) Charles Leclerc 1m 21.953
2) Lando Norris +0.425
3) Oscar Piastri +0.472
4) Carlos Sainz +0.582
5) Yuki Tsunoda +1.091
6) Valtteri Bottas +1.111
7) Lance Stroll +1.146
8) George Russell +1.207
9) Alex Albon +1.208
10) Lewis Hamilton +1.235

With the Qatar Grand Prix being a Sprint weekend, Free Practice One is the only practice session of the weekend.

The temperature and track temperature were much cooler than last year's hot and humid race.

The session started with most drivers on track, making the most of the limited running time during the weekend. The drivers took to the track on a mixture of hard and medium tyre compounds.

A third of the way into the session, Charles Leclerc set a time of 1m 23.702s on a set of hard tyres, putting him a couple of tenths clear of Max Verstappen, Pierre Gasly, Lando Norris, Carlos Sainz and George Russell.

A few runs later, Lando Norris was on a very fast lap on a set of medium tyres but had an unfortunate slide into Turn 10, and Piastri also had a moment at Turn 15.

With ten minutes to go, the drivers headed out on the soft compound tyres, with all changes at the top of the leaderboard. However, Leclerc remained at the top with a 1m 21.953s lap, ahead of Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri, Carlos Sainz, Yuki Tsunoda, Valtteri Bottas, Lance Stroll, George Russell, Alex Albon, and Lewis Hamilton, rounding out the top ten.

Sprint Qualifying

SQ1

Out In SQ1
16) Sergio Perez
17) Yuki Tsunoda
18) Esteban Ocon
19) Zhou Guanyu
20) Franco Colapinto

The Ferrari, Haas, Williams, Alpine, Verstappen and Sauber drivers were first out on track for SQ1. All the drivers were running medium tyre compounds as required for the first session.

Norris set his first lap time and went immediately to the top of the timesheet with a lap time of 1m 22.785, followed by George Russell, Kevin Magnussen and Valtteri Bottas.

With five minutes to go Ocon, Albon, Perez, Colapinto and Lawson were in the bottom three.

Leclerc, Sainz and Verstappen were in the top three with three and half minutes to go, but with two minutes to go it was all change at the top and the bottom.

Lando Norris tops the timesheets for SQ1, followed by Sainz and Russell. Sergio Perez, Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon, Zhou Guanyu and Franco Colapinto were knocked out in SQ1.

SQ2

Out In SQ2
11) Fernando Alonso
12) Alex Albon
13) Valtteri Bottas
14) Lance Stroll
15) Kevin Magnussen

Both Haas, McLaren, Aston Martin and RB drivers Lawson and Alex Albon were all out on the track at the very start of SQ2, running once again on medium tyres.

Verstappen set an early fastest lap time with a time of 1m 22.188s, but it was quickly beaten by Charles Leclerc by 0.058s.

With five minutes to go, George Russell, Lewis Hamilton, Kevin Magnussen, and Valtteri Bottas had yet to set a lap time and were in the bottom five, along with Liam Lawson.

George Russell heads to the top of the timesheet with a 1m 21.488 as Oscar Piastri gets a lap time deleted for track limits. Lando Norris takes the lead with a lap time of 1m 21.231 with two minutes to go in SQ2.

With less than two minutes to go, Alonso, Stroll, Bottas, Piastri, and Magnussen were in the bottom five.

Lando Norris tops the timesheets for the second session in a row, followed by Russell and Piastri. Alonso, Albon, Bottas, Stroll and Magnussen get knocked out in SQ2.

SQ3

Sprint Race Starting Top 10
1) Lando Norris 1m 21.012
2) George Russell +0.063
3) Oscar Piastri +0.159
4) Carlos Sainz +0.269
5) Charles Leclerc +0.296
6) Max Verstappen +0.303
7) Lewis Hamilton +0.462
8) Pierre Gasly +0.966
9) Nico Hulkenberg +1.076
10) Liam Lawson +1.565

With a mix of drivers opting to stay in the garage and heading out onto the track at the start of the session, with Russell, Hamilton, Verstappen, Sainz, Leclerc, Gasly and Lawson heading out onto the track first.

Leclerc was the first to set a lapt time with a time of 1m 21.705s, followed by Gasly, Lawson, Hamilton, Russell, Verstappen and Sainz.

The ten drivers were all out on track for the whole session, with just quick pit stops of wing adjustments or to make space on track.

Lando Norris aborts his final lap heading into the pits but he was on provisional pole at the time.

Lando Norris take Pole Position for the Qatar Sprint race, followed by George Russell, Oscar Piastri, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.

McLaren's Lando Norris, who secured sprint pole said: "It is tough here because it is so quick. It feels like the quickest circuit of the year. The final sector feels like you are hanging on.

"But great qualifying today, especially to bounce back from where we were in Vegas.

"We came here to get pole and we got that so job done for today."

Anny Wooldridge
Writer at F1 Journal

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