Max Verstappen endured exhilaration and then disappointment in qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix, where he took pole position against the odds, his first since Austria in June, only to lose it more than three hours later. With the stewards having taken an exceedingly long look at an incident where he blocked Mercedes’ George Russell, they finally penalised the world champion by one grid place, promoting Russell to pole.
Verstappen appeared determined to close the season hard, having sealed his fourth title at the last round in Las Vegas but his superb lap in qualifying came to naught after a painfully long investigation.
He was ultimately penalised for “driving unnecessarily slowly on a cool-down lap” and in so doing impeding Russell, whom he had beaten to pole by just five-hundredths of a second. The usual penalty of three grid places was not imposed because neither car was on a hot lap at the time. Russell, however, had to leave the track to avoid Verstappen, which compromised his warm-up lap.
The Dutchman was summoned to the stewards but had made his feelings known beforehand. “If they take this away, then of course it doesn’t make any sense at all,” he said. “We were all just driving slowly. I wouldn’t know what I could have done differently. The fact that I have to go there [to the stewards] is very strange to me.”
It tarnished what was a remarkable turnaround for Verstappen and his Red Bull team. The pole was no little surprise for Verstappen, who had struggled in Qatar during the sprint, finishing eighth. But Red Bull found their setup for qualifying, which Verstappen described as a “miracle”.
Verstappen has already denied Lando Norris the drivers’ title but McLaren made a strong opening in their attempt to seal their first Formula One constructors’ world championship since 1998 by claiming a one-two finish by Oscar Piastri and Norris in the sprint race. Norris had dominated in the sprint before ceding victory to Piastri at the death in acknowledgment of the Australian giving up his win to the Briton in the Brazil sprint. Both drivers then qualified in front of title rivals Ferrari.
Norris and Piastri were in third and fourth for Sunday’s race and McLaren will still be optimistic they can end their title drought. They went into the meeting at the Lusail circuit leading Ferrari by 24 points, which was extended to 30 after the sprint.
They now need to outscore the Scuderia by a further 15 points to complete the job and ensure they are 45 ahead before the final round in Abu Dhabi. With the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in fifth and seventh on the grid, they have a shot at closing it out on Sunday. Lewis Hamilton was in sixth for Mercedes.
Under the floodlights of Lusail, Russell had set the pace in qualifying on his first run with a 1min 20.575sec lap but was pushed hard by Verstappen, who was half a tenth back. For the final, tense runs, Verstappen found a tiny edge and went quickest to pip Russell with a time of 1minute 20.520 seconds. However, the Briton believed he could have gone quicker without having his warm-up lap disrupted and the stewards agreed.
Earlier in the day, Norris had admitted that the team had told him not to give up the place in the sprint but he felt he had to do it. “It was probably a bit closer than I wanted but I had planned to do that since Brazil,” he said. “The team told me not to do it, but I thought we could do it. I am not here to win sprint races. I want to win the championship and I haven’t done that.”
With Sainz and Leclerc managing only fourth and fifth in the sprint, it was advantage McLaren and with a pace differential which, if repeated in the race, would put the British marque very much in the driving seat in terms of the championship.
Britain’s Abbi Pulling has won the F1 Academy, the all-female series aimed at helping promote women in motor sport. The 21-year-old, who drives for the Alpine F1 Academy team, took second place behind her title rival, France’s Doriane Pin, in the first of the two races at the Qatar GP this weekend, enough to seal the title with three races remaining.
Pulling, from Lincolnshire, has been all but untouchable in the series this season. Across 11 races she has taken seven wins, seven pole positions, four clean sweeps and four podium finishes. She has held the lead of the title race since the close of the first meeting in Jeddah.
F1 has not had a female driver in a grand prix since Lella Lombardi in Austria in 1976 and the F1 Academy was created and funded by F1’s owners in an effort to help address this shortcoming, giving women crucial assistance in the shape of time on track behind the wheel. As the winner of the F1 Academy in its second season, Pulling will receive a fully funded drive in the GB3 – formula 3 series – with Rodin Motorsport for the 2025 season, including 20 days of testing, another vital rung in moving up the ladder. Giles Richards
In qualifying, Fernando Alonso was eighth for Aston Martin, Sergio Pérez ninth for Red Bull and Kevin Magnussen 10th for Haas.
Pierre Gasly was 11th for Alpine, Guanyu Zhou and Valtteri Bottas 12th and 13th for Sauber, Yuki Tsunoda 14th for RB and Lance Stroll in 15th for Aston Martin.
Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto were in 16th and 19th for Williams, Liam Lawson in 17th for RB, Nico Hülkenberg in 18th for Haas and Esteban Ocon in 20th for Alpine.
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