George Russell inherits Qatar pole after Max Verstappen penalty
George Russell on pole after Max Verstappen penalty.
UPDATED: Max Verstappen lost pole position after being hit with a one-place grid penalty for blocking George Russell in qualifying. Russell will now start on pole, with Verstappen in P2.
Max Verstappen claimed a surprise pole position at the F1 Qatar Grand Prix but faces an investigation for an incident with George Russell.
After a difficult start to the weekend, it marked a massive turnaround from Red Bull as Verstappen pipped Russell to his first pole since the Austrian Grand Prix in June by just 0.055s.
However, Verstappen will be investigated after qualifying for failing to obey the maximum delta time. Russell complained he was blocked by the four-time world champion on an outlap, labelling the Dutchman's driving “super dangerous”.
Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez was reprimanded for the same offence on Friday in Qatar.
"Honestly I also didn’t expect that but well done to the team to give me a car that feels a bit more connected and once the car is a bit more together you feel you can push harder, it felt a lot better in qualifying for me," Verstappen said.
“We did change a bit on the car but I never thought it would make such a swing in performance so that is promising.
"I hope that it lasts tomorrow in the race, I don’t know that yet but it felt already more stable over one lap and that is exactly what we need and I’m very happy to be on pole, it’s been a while.”
McLaren fall back but ahead of Ferrari
Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri locked out the second row of the grid in third and fourth as McLaren remain well positioned ahead of their first shot to win the constructors’ championship.
Norris aborted his first run after a mistake cost him, while he backed out of a second attempt when he encountered traffic at Turn 7. On his final flying lap, the Briton ended up just over two tenths slower than Verstappen's effort.
Charles Leclerc was fifth ahead of future Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton, who split the Scuderia pair by edging out Carlos Sainz to sixth. The seven-time world champion ended up four-tenths adrift of Mercedes teammate George Russell 24 hours after admitting he is “definitely not fast anymore”.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso, Perez and Haas’ Kevin Magnussen completed the rest of the top-10.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly was a frustrated 11th after missing out on a spot in Q3 by just 0.012s, having narrowly outpaced the Sauber duo of Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas who were 12th and 13th.
Yuki Tsunoda was 15th, ahead of Alex Albon’s Williams, RB teammate Liam Lawson’s RB and Nico Hulkenberg, who could only manage a time good enough for 18th after a strong sprint showing.
Franco Colapinto took 19th in the older-spec Williams following his recent string of heavy crashes, while Esteban Ocon was slowest of all in 20th with a big disparity between the Alpine drivers.
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