Max Verstappen suffered elation and then disappointment in qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix, where he took pole against the odds, his first since Austria in June, only to lose it more than three hours later. With the stewards taking an extremely long look at an incident where he blocked a Mercedes George Russellthey finally penalized the world champion one place on the grid, elevating Russell to pole.
Verstappen looked determined to close the season hard after sealing his fourth title at the final round in Las Vegas, but his superb qualifying lap fell short after a painfully long investigation.
He was eventually penalized for “driving unnecessarily slowly on a cool-down lap” and thus hampered Russell, whom he had beaten to the pole by just five hundredths of a second. The usual three-place grid penalty was not imposed as neither car was on a hot lap at the time. However, Russell had to pull off the track to avoid Verstappen, compromising his warm-up lap.
The Dutchman was called to the stewards but had made his feelings known beforehand. “If they’re taking that away, then of course there’s no point,” he said. “We were all just driving slowly. I didn’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 the remarkable turnaround for Verstappen and his Red Bull team. The pole was no small surprise for Verstappen, who 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 drivers’ title, but McLaren have made a strong start in their bid to seal their first F1 Constructors’ World Championship since 1998. so far, winning one-two finishes from Oscar Piastri and Norris in the sprint race. Norris dominated the sprint before conceding victory to Piastri at the death in recognition of the Australian conceding his victory to the Briton in the Brazilian sprint. Both drivers then qualified ahead of title rivals Ferrari.
Norris and Piastri were third and fourth for Sunday’s race and McLaren will still be optimistic they can end their title drought. They went to the meeting at the Lusail track leading Ferrari with 24 points, which was increased to 30 after the sprint.
They now need to overtake the Scuderia by a further 15 points to finish the job and ensure they are 45 clear ahead of the final round in Abu Dhabi. With the Ferraris of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz fifth and seventh on the grid, they have a chance to close it out on Sunday. Lewis Hamilton was sixth for Mercedes.
Under the Lusail floodlights, Russell had set the pace in qualifying in his first stint with a 1 minute lap. 20.575s but was pushed hard by Verstappen, who was half a tenth back. For the final, tight heats, Verstappen found a slight advantage and was fastest to beat Russell with a time of 1 minute 20.520 seconds. However, the Briton believed he could have driven faster without having his warm-up lap interrupted and the stewards agreed.
Earlier in the day, Norris admitted the team had told him not to give up his place in the sprint, but he felt he had to. “It was probably a little bit closer than I wanted, but I’ve been planning to do this since Brazil,” he said. “The team told me not to, but I thought we could do it. I’m not here to win sprints. I want to win the championship, but I haven’t.”
With Sainz and Leclerc only managing fourth and fifth in the sprint, this was an advantage McLaren and with a pace differential that, if repeated in the race, would put the British marque well in the lead in terms of the championship.
A quick guide Abby Pulling wins F1 Academy
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Britain’s Abbi Pulling won the F1 Academy, the all-female series aimed at helping to promote women in motorsport. The 21-year-old, who drives for the Alpine F1 Academy team, finished second to title rival Dorian Pin of France in the first of two races at this weekend’s Qatar Grand Prix, enough to seal the title with three races remaining .
Lincolnshire’s Pulling has been almost untouchable in the series this season. In 11 races, she took seven wins, seven pole positions, four clean sheets and four podium finishes. She has been leading the title race since the end of the first meeting in Jeddah.
Formula 1 has not had a female driver in a Grand Prix since Lela Lombardi in Austria in 1976. and the F1 Academy was created and funded by the owners of Formula 1 in an attempt to help address this disadvantage, giving women crucial help in the form of track time behind the wheel. As the F1 Academy winner in his second season, Pulling will receive a fully funded drive in GB3 – the 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 Perez 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 15th for Aston Martin.
Alex Albon and Franco Colapinto were 16th and 19th for Williams, Liam Lawson 17th for RB, Nico Hulkenberg 18th for Haas and Esteban Ocon 20th for Alpine.
A quick guide How do I sign up for breaking sports news alerts?
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