F1 Qatar GP LIVE: Sprint qualifying results and updates as Lando Norris claims pole
F1 reaction from sprint qualifying at the Lusail International Circuit as Norris sneaks top spot
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Your support makes all the difference.Lando Norris bounced back from his F1 championship defeat to secure pole position for Saturday’s sprint race in Qatar.
The British driver, mocked by Max Verstappen for failing to win the title in a McLaren deemed superior to the rest of the field, saw off Mercedes’ George Russell by just 0.063 seconds.
Norris’ pole, combined with Piastri qualifying third, hands a timely boost to McLaren as they bid to land their first constructors’ championship since 1998. The British team will take the title in Doha if they outscore Ferrari by 21 points and do not concede nine points to third-placed Red Bull. Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc qualified fourth and fifth respectively for Ferrari.
Verstappen will start Saturday’s dash to the chequered flag from sixth, with Lewis Hamilton a place back, four-tenths slower than Russell in the other Mercedes.
F1 Qatar GP LIVE: Oscar Piastri quickest early on!
Piastri goes quickest for McLaren, with the Mercedes pairing yet to set a timed lap!
Current bottom-five (11-15): Lawson, Russell, Hamilton, Magnussen, Bottas
Top-3: Piastri, Leclerc, Norris
Just 4:00 to go...
F1 Qatar GP LIVE: SQ2 underway!
Eight of the 15 remaining drivers straight out on track at the start of SQ2!
10 minutes where we will again lose the slowest five drivers before the top-10 shootout.
Medium tyre, again, the compulsory compound in use...
F1 Qatar GP LIVE: Sergio Perez out in SQ1!
Sergio Perez is knocked out in the first stage of qualifying again - by just 0.013 seconds!
Deary me, when will it turn around for Checo?!
Bottom-five (16-20) and out in SQ1: Perez, Tsunoda, Ocon, Zhou, Colapinto
Alex Albon escapes in P15!
Top-3: Norris, Sainz, Russell
F1 Qatar GP LIVE: Lewis Hamilton is in the bottom-five!
Trouble for Hamilton with three minutes left
Current bottom-five (16-20): Alonso, Hamilton, Tsunoda, Zhou, Colapinto
2:00 to go in SQ1!
F1 Qatar GP LIVE: Lando Norris goes quickest early on
Promising stuff for McLaren early on, with Norris top of the timesheet with a 1:22:785, four-tenths quicker than Charles Leclerc in third - George Russell splits them in second!
Current bottom-five (16-20): Perez, Lawson, Zhou, Colapinto, Alonso
5:00 to go in SQ1
F1 Qatar GP LIVE: SQ1 underway!
Here we go then!
12 minutes in this quickfire first qualifying session where we will lose the slowest five drivers from the remainder of qualifying!
And the medium compound is the compulsory tyre of use!
F1 Qatar GP LIVE: Sprint qualifying coming right up!
Five minutes from sprint qualifying then - is Charles Leclerc the favourite after his rapid lap in practice earlier?
And what about McLaren, Mercedes and Red Bull - they’re always in the mix!
It’ll be quickfire in what is the last sprint qualifying of the 2024 season!
How does the sprint race work?
The result of the Saturday morning sprint – a 100km dash, roughly a third of the distance of the grand prix – will not impact the grid for Sunday. Points will be awarded to the top-eight, as was the case in 2023.
The sprint race result will not have any impact on the grand prix qualifying on Saturday or the grand prix on Sunday.
Sprint qualifying will follow the same Q1-Q2-Q3 format but the session times will be shorter than traditional qualifying: SQ1 (medium tyres) will be 12 minutes, SQ2 (medium tyres) will be 10 minutes and SQ3 (soft tyres) will be eight minutes.
Driver Standings ahead of the Qatar GP weekend:
1. Max Verstappen - 403 points (champion)
2. Lando Norris - 340 points
3. Charles Leclerc - 319 points
4. Oscar Piastri - 268 points
5. Carlos Sainz - 259 points
6. George Russell - 217 points
7. Lewis Hamilton - 208 points
8. Sergio Perez - 152 points
9. Fernando Alonso - 62 points
10. Nico Hulkenberg - 35 points
11. Yuki Tsunoda - 30 points
12. Pierre Gasly - 26 points
13. Lance Stroll - 24 points
14. Esteban Ocon - 23 points
15. Kevin Magnussen - 14 points
16. Alex Albon - 12 points
17. Daniel Ricciardo - 12 points
18. Ollie Bearman - 7 points
19. Franco Colapinto - 5 points
20. Liam Lawson - 4 points
21. Zhou Guanyu - 0 points
22. Logan Sargeant - 0 points
23. Valtteri Bottas - 0 points
Mick Schumacher makes shock career switch away from F1
Mick Schumacher has decided to leave his role as a Mercedes F1 reserve driver at the end of the 2024 season.
The 25-year-old German, son of seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher, was dropped by Haas at the end of the 2022 season after a two-year run but in the two years since has been an understudy for George Russell and Lewis Hamilton at the Silver Arrows.
However, having not appeared once on an F1 weekend and having not secured a race seat for 2025, Schumacher has decided to leave the team and explore new opportunities after what he described as a “tough” two years watching in the garage.
Full story below:
Mick Schumacher makes shock career switch away from F1
The German, son of seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher, did not land an F1 seat for 2025
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