Feature
What the teams said – Sprint Qualifying in Qatar
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McLaren
Norris looked quick from word go in Qatar, while Piastri took a little longer to find his rhythm, running wide a couple of times in practice. In Sprint Qualifying, both made it to SQ3 although there was one dicey moment when Piastri lost a lap time in SQ2 to track limits. Norris’ first lap in SQ3 put him on provisional pole, and he abandoned his second effort knowing he wasn’t going to improve. That gave Piastri half a chance, especially as he’d gone purple in the first sector but a couple of small errors late on cost him a chance of a front row.
Lando Norris, 1st, 1:21.012
“A good start to the weekend and that’s job done for today. We expected to be better here, it was one of our strongest circuits last year and it feels very quick out there. We made good improvements between practice and Sprint Qualifying and the team did a great job with the car, which gave me a lot of confidence. The job tomorrow is the maximise points for the Constructors’ Championship, but we know it’s going to be a battle: Mercedes will be quick, and Ferrari will be fast. It’s not going to be an easy one for us, but it’s going to be an exciting Sprint for everyone watching. I’m looking forward to it.”
Oscar Piastri, 3rd, 1:21.171
"I am pretty happy with that. It felt like it was coming together well, and P3 is a good place to start tomorrow. There are a few opportunities we can exploit as it wasn’t the best lap I’ve ever done, but with the tricky conditions, most people on the grid probably feel the same. This track is pretty mega to drive around, so I’m feeling confident for tomorrow. Let’s see what we can do.”
Andrea Stella, Team Principal
“It’s good to be back on the front row of the grid after a difficult event in Vegas. The car is performing well with Lando and Oscar putting together strong laps throughout the Sprint Qualifying session. This has confirmed that our performance is competitive. At the same time, we have to recognise that Mercedes are within the same tenth of a second and Ferrari are starting just behind us, so we have another very compact field again. We need to remain focused and work hard to maximise the potential of the car in the Sprint event, if we want to score as many points as possible. As a first day here in Lusail, it’s been positive, and we aim to carry this momentum into the remainder of the weekend.”
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Mercedes
Mercedes surprised a few people by looking properly in the mix in Qatar, despite the conditions not necessarily being to their liking. But come SQ3, Russell once again was the driver to shine. He was one of very few to improve on his second flying run, pipping Piastri to a spot on the front row but just unable to beat Norris. As for Hamilton, he had to settle for a P7 starting slot, just ahead of the midfield runners.
Lewis Hamilton, 7th, 1:21.474
"The car felt decent today and the positive is we seem to have a fast car here in these conditions. Sprint Qualifying for me today didn’t go great but George should be able to have a strong run from where he’s starting tomorrow.
"Earlier on today the long run pace felt good so hopefully tomorrow this will come into play, and we’ll be able to make some progress in the Sprint. Unfortunately, from where I’m starting in P7 it’s going to be difficult to compete for the win, but I’ll try my best and see what I can do. We also have Qualifying tomorrow evening so hopefully we can have a good session and make some progress there, who knows what tomorrow brings."
George Russell, 2nd, 1:21.075
"Today we had a really strong session during SQ3. The car was feeling great and this circuit is one of the best with the high speed corners. For my final lap, I was able to go flat through these for the first time this weekend which resulted in me confusing the engine a little, so I lost a bit of time on the exit. Ultimately Lando was a smidge out of reach today and I don’t think we could have secured P1 even without this slight loss.
"Tomorrow we’ll be going for the best result we can, hopefully making a good start and then we go from there. Our focus will also be on Qualifying later in the day to ensure we can achieve the best result we can there, too."
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
"FP1 was a solid session for us which is important on a sprint weekend with there being just one hour to get the car ready for Sprint Qualifying. Our initial performance showed our single lap performance wasn’t quite there, but our long run pace looked more competitive, so we were able to learn enough to make the required changes to move us in the right direction for Sprint Qualifying.
"We were optimistic coming into the weekend but didn’t expect to see our performance in the same window as we did in Vegas so George’s P2 today is encouraging for the Team. Pace across the top four teams looks very close so it’s beneficial to be starting the Sprint Race on the front row. Lewis was looking competitive in his final lap of SQ3 but unfortunately lost a little time in the last two corners, prior to this it looked like he was going to also finish in the top four. We have a bit of time between now and Qualifying tomorrow to continue to work on our single lap performance."
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Ferrari
Leclerc topped the only practice session, with his team mate also looking quick. That put Ferrari as arguably joint favourites with McLaren in the fight for pole. Leclerc looked especially quick on the mediums, but both drivers faded once the soft tyres were bolted on in SQ3. The wind was a factor, with Sainz losing grip late on but he still managed to turn the table and out-qualify Leclerc, who had been quicker up until that point. The bad news for Ferrari is that their title rivals have both cars ahead on the grid.
Charles Leclerc, 5th, 1:21.308
"Our FP1 performance was better than expected, so our hopes were that we could finish SQ in good positions, given that this weekend is such an important one for us. Unfortunately, we didn’t and P4 and 5 is all that was possible today.Let’s see what tomorrow brings. For now we are not in the best positions, but things can play out differently come the Sprint race."
Carlos Sainz, 4th, 1:21.281
"A rather unusual qualifying session. In terms of balance, we worked in the right direction and the car improved from free practice. However, in SQ3 I had quite a lot of understeer which obviously didn't help to put together a better lap.Anyway, starting on the second row can still allow us to bring home a good result and hopefully, to try and attack one of the McLarens ahead, score points and collect data which will help us prepare for Sunday."
Fred Vasseur, Team Principal
"We had a much better car in FP this afternoon, but we had too much understeer in SQ3 which meant we struggled a lot. If we want to look on the positive side, we can say that the big points are only given out on Sunday so we have to react and be ready for tomorrow evening’s qualifying and make sure we have a good car for Sunday.Now the cars are in parc fermé until after the Sprint Race, but following that we will be able to make changes for the main Qualifying session.Pace-wise it’s quite difficult to have a real picture, as no one did a really long stint in practice so we cannot be sure what level of graining we will have. The Sprint race will be a bit earlier in the day so the track temperature will be higher and there should be less graining."
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Red Bull
It was a mixed bag for Red Bull in Qatar. Perez struggled in the only practice session, seemingly unable to extract much grip from the track. His problems continued into Sprint Qualifying and he wound up exiting at the first time of asking. Verstappen could get more from his RB20, and he made it to SQ3 with ease. But once there, he couldn’t make the tyres last for a second push lap and faded to sixth as others improved.
Max Verstappen, 6th, 1:21.315
“It is super tight out there and we lacked pace today. We don’t really have the balance to attack entry to mid corner, the high speed is okay, but overall our car is just a bit off. P6 isn’t where we want to be but was the maximum we could achieve today. It will be tough to fight the cars around me but hopefully we can push a bit more during the Sprint. For Qualifying we will look to improve the situation, but we will see what happens on track tomorrow.
Sergio Perez, 16th, 1:22.718
“To get my final lap, we were all opening gaps and Charles came through and we were fighting for truck space into turn one and I lost a couple of tenths there, enough to be knocked out unfortunately. It is a shame because I feel we really progressed with the car from P1 to Sprint Qualifying, we have a lot more potential. I think it is going to be tough to come through the field tomorrow, so we will focus hard on the rest of the weekend. In such a short race I don’t think there is a lot we can do but we will try our hardest.
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Alpine
Ocon had a tricky Friday in Qatar, missing some running in FP1 with an issue. He also didn’t have the latest upgrades on his car and exited Sprint Qualifying at the first time of asking. But Gasly went all the way to the top 10 shootout, and once there bagged the ‘best of the rest’ slot in P8. If he can stay there and score a point in the Sprint, it would be enough to lift Alpine back above Haas in the championship – so there is plenty to play for tomorrow.
Esteban Ocon, 18th, 1:22.906
“It’s been a tough evening and we did not manage to put together a better lap to qualify higher on the grid for tomorrow’s Sprint race. We need to continue to work with the team to find more performance and understand a few things. We will try to take every opportunity that will present itself in tomorrow’s race as a lot can happen in these fast-paced events. We have another opportunity in Qualifying too so hopefully we can find some learnings overnight and find some improvements going into that session.”
Pierre Gasly, 8th, 1:21.978
“I’m happy to qualify in eighth place in Sprint Qualifying. The top four teams were very quick in the end, so I think qualifying in eighth was the best we could achieve today. We are in front of one Haas and one RB who we are in a fight with in the Championship. Free Practice 1 was good for us and I felt good in the car in the conditions. In Sprint Qualifying, however, I was not as comfortable and we had to work hard to get through SQ1 and SQ2 building lap time bit by bit. Tomorrow, the top eight score points so we are in the mix. As we know, the Championship is tight so I expect a fight with Haas and RB in the Sprint. We must target points and we will give everything we can.”
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Haas
Hulkenberg recovered from his head cold to take part in proceedings on Friday, and looked in good shape. He made it all the way to the top-10 shootout, to keep Haas in touch of both their rivals, Alpine, and in the mix for a point or two. Magnussen struggled more than his team mate for grip, and his SQ2 was a little disrupted which contributed to him exiting in P15.
Nico Hulkenberg, 9th, 1:22.088
“It was a good, clean quali. We might have to review SQ3 as we had a different run profile to everyone else, so we might need to understand that. Otherwise, it was a solid session and again very close to Alpine and RB – we’re all close and it’s generally a compact field. It’s a mighty fast track, there’s a lot of grip on this tarmac, and certainly it’s physical and demanding. The Sprint is tough for anyone in the midfield to get points as it’s not the usual top 10 places scoring, so we’ll see, many things can happen and you have to stay in it. It’s all to play for.”
Kevin Magnussen, 15th, 1:22.738
“The car was pretty decent. I got pressured by traffic on my out-lap and ended up starting my lap right behind Nico, which wasn’t ideal – but the car was good and we have a decent chance tomorrow. We’ll see how we go, it’s obviously a Sprint with no pit stop so we’ll need to overtake on track.”
Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal
“As usual, it’s so tight between us, Alpine and RB. We tried to get P8 in SQ3 with Nico but just missed it by a tiny margin. Kevin is still struggling at this track, so there’s more to come from him, and with Nico he’s done a good job, but we just need to look at a few things. Tomorrow, starting P9 on the clean side of the grid, our focus is to get P8 and points. It’s tight, but it’s all to play for, so I’m looking forward to it.”
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RB
Tsunoda finished up the order in the only practice session and looked to be in good form. But he found traffic late on in SQ1, and couldn’t prepare his lap appropriately, which cost him a chance of improving. Lawson though did make SQ2 and once there put in a great lap – which he was very happy to hear was good enough for the top 10. In SQ3, he lost his fastest lap time to track limits, which dropped him from P9 to 10th.
Liam Lawson, 10th, 1:22.577
“The Team put in a lot of effort since this morning to find a step in performance and pace. It was great to see that translate on track. It’s a shame we had a lap deleted in SQ3. It’s one position, but we now need to make up two places for points tomorrow. However, we’re very happy with the step we made. Of course, there’s always more to extract and we’ll work on that overnight. We did a brief long run this morning, so will go through those numbers, and try to move forward. It’s very close with Alpine, Haas and us on track tomorrow, and we’re fighting each other in the Constructors, so the Sprint is very important, and we can take confidence from today.”
Yuki Tsunoda, 17th, 1:22,722
“It was a tough Sprint Qualifying today and I think we deserved more from it. I did what I could, but unfortunately, we haven’t been able to maximise our performance. I still think we have the right potential with our car here in Qatar so for sure we could have done better than that. I didn’t do any mistakes and I know what happened, so I’ll have a look tonight together with the team to try and get some learning from today.”
Alan Permane, Racing Director
“Congratulations to Liam for making it to SQ3. He improved with every lap, as did his understanding of the track, car and tyres, putting it all together to get into the top 10. He was a bit unlucky to lose a lap time by exceeding track limits at T6 by a few millimetres, but I’m sure he can have a decent Sprint tomorrow. Yuki was super fast this morning, no real issues with the car, very happy with the balance, but then he lost quite a big chunk of time in the very high speed section through turns 12, 13 and 14 and that meant his lap wasn’t fast enough to get him out of SQ1. Now, we will take a good look at all the data to ensure he has a car that lets him perform not only in the Sprint race, but in tomorrow’s qualifying.”
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Aston Martin
Aston Martin showed some big improvements on their one-lap pace from Vegas, having lost both cars in Q1 last time out. This time around they managed to get both drivers in SQ2, but they couldn’t go any further. Alonso came the closest, just pipped to P10 by four hundredths of a second while Stroll was a little further back in P14, after rueing traffic that disrupted his run plan.
Fernando Alonso, 11th, 1:22.433
"It was a better Sprint Qualifying for us here tonight in Qatar. We were quite comfortable in SQ1 and we just missed out on SQ3 by a small margin. The high-speed nature and temperature of the track seems to be bit better for our package. We have an opportunity to fight for some points in the Sprint tomorrow and hopefully in the race on Sunday too."
Lance Stroll, 14th, 1:22.599
"It's good to be back on track here in Qatar. SQ1 was good and I was happy with the laps I set, but we came across a bit of traffic on my final SQ2 run which didn't help. I lost a bit of time with that and the margins are obviously very tight. The car's performance hasn't been too bad today, but I think it will be tricky to overtake in the Sprint race tomorrow. There's still a lot of action left this weekend so more opportunities to come."
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Williams
Colapinto was racing here for the first time, and looked to be struggling to get to grips with this high-speed track. He ran wide in practice and again in Sprint Qualifying, eventually winding up propping up the field. That left Albon to fly the flag for the team, but he couldn’t quite make it to the top 10, P12 the best he could manage on a day where Williams looked half a tenth shy of their midfield rivals.
Alex Albon, 12th, 1:22.526
"Firstly, it’s been a lot of fun out there today. It’s a really nice track and very quick. We’re maybe a bit disappointed with the Sprint Qualifying result. We struggled in Free Practice with not quite getting the tyres in the right place and had the same issue in Sprint Quali, but I think most teams are struggling to find that magic window. I think we’ll be okay tomorrow. Our long run pace was really strong, so I’m optimistic."
Franco Colapinto, 20th, 1:23.423
"It was a tough day as from Free Practice we were struggling with the car. We didn’t really find the right direction to go in. I was losing time little by little through a lap in most corners which is always the most frustrating part because there are no big chunks of lap time lost in one place. The high-speed felt ok but when coming to medium and slower speed corners I was really struggling with the front end and balance. We tried to fix the issues with some setup changes after Free Practice, but it didn’t work as well as we wanted. However, with all the data we’ve gained from today and in tomorrow’s Sprint Race, I’m hoping we might be able to do something more interesting tomorrow in the main Qualifying session."
Sven Smeets, Sporting Director
"Having only one Free Practice before you start Qualifying always brings some challenges. We were struggling a bit to get the tyres in the right window in FP. Sprint Qualifying this evening was tricky and unfortunately Franco didn’t make it into SQ2. He can use the race tomorrow to find a better balance as he is struggling in the low and medium speed corners. Alex just made it into SQ2 and finished at the end in P12. Our race runs looked competitive this morning, so we are looking forward to the Sprint Race tomorrow and we will work hard overnight to try and find a better tyre prep for Qualifying tomorrow night."
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Kick Sauber
Bottas put in some stunning laps both in free practice and SQ1 to briefly look like top-10 material. He made SQ2 but once there his pace faded and he had to make do with P13. The good news is this track seems to suit his car, so he might fancy his chances both in qualifying tomorrow night and even the Grand Prix on Sunday. Zhou couldn’t follow suit, exiting in SQ1.
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Valtteri Bottas, 13th, 1:22.538
"Today's result was better than our average this season, which means we made another small step forward in making it to the second stage of qualifying. The competition is extremely close out there and we seem to be right in the mix, so I'm hoping we can find a bit more pace for the actual qualifying tomorrow afternoon and work our way into the top ten. Of course, we'll try everything we can in the Sprint tomorrow morning, but our main focus remains on Sunday and maximising our chances for the main race."
Zhou Guanyu, 19th, 1:22.948
"We were quite close to making it through to SQ2, as the car felt pretty good. Unfortunately, we got it wrong in our time window for the final lap of the session: we waited too long in the pits and that meant we had too much traffic when starting the lap. It’s a shame as while I was slower in turns one and two compared to the previous lap, I was able to gain seven tenths in the last corners – but the damage was done. Conditions out there were tricky: it was very windy and that made the high-speed corners very challenging. I think we had a chance to make it to SQ2, but we missed out. Let’s see what we can achieve tomorrow.”
Alessandro Alunni Bravi, Team Representative
"The latest upgrade we introduced in Las Vegas has proven to be a reasonable step forward for us also here in Qatar. This was clearly evident in Valtteri's performance, as he was able to advance to SQ2 after being P9 in SQ1, confirming the car's increased potential. While he will start the sprint race in P13, we’ve seen that the gap to the top 10 is now smaller than in previous events, and the car's balance felt much better for him. Zhou struggled a bit more, particularly on his out laps as, due to traffic, he was not able to get his tyres to the right temperature and finished the Sprint Qualifying in P19 – a result that does not reflect his potential today. However, we believe the sprint race tomorrow will be an opportunity for Zhou to better prepare for qualifying on Saturday. The team reacted quickly after the FP1 session, adjusting the rear downforce level, which helped us compete more effectively with our direct rivals in terms of top speed, an area that has been a weakness in Las Vegas. This technical decision, along with the team's agility, has been crucial in driving the car's improved performance. Now the focus is on tomorrow’s Sprint Race: points may only be limited to the top eight, but the event could still present some opportunities for Valtteri to exploit his good starting position.”
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Pirelli
Simone Berra, Chief Engineer
“It was a very interesting day and a surprising one in some ways. The most significant data is the improvement in lap times compared to last year, by a huge amount in FP, slightly less so but still significant in SQ. Running exactly the same tyres as last year and with hardly any changes to the technical regulations, this major drop in lap times can be put down to – apart from the natural performance progression of this generation of cars – mainly to the lower temperatures and also to the improvement of the condition of the track and the fact that, unlike in 2023, for this year’s event, there are support races running on track before the Formula 1 session and that has rubbered-in the track more.
“As expected, performance improved very quickly the more laps were completed, both in free practice and in the Sprint Qualifying. So far, the level of graining we have seen is lower than what we might have expected and the performance degradation is very limited. This could push the teams more towards a one-stop strategy and with this in mind, it will be important to check tyre behaviour during tomorrow’s Sprint race, given that today, very few drivers did meaningful long runs with a heavy fuel load. For the “short” race, the Medium seems to be the most plausible option even if, as was already the case in 2023, the Soft cannot be completely ruled out, especially as the C3 has an ideal operating window in temperatures similar to those recorded today.
“In terms of the integrity of the tyres, initial analysis has not thrown up any anomalies, confirming that the changes instigated by the FIA relating to the kerbs have had the desired effect. Obviously, it will be important to analyse the data from the Sprint when all the cars will run continuously for the equivalent of one third of Sunday’s race.”
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