Qatar GP Qualifying: Max Verstappen is closing in on his third World Championship title as he takes Pole in Qualifying. The Dutch driver managed to stay within track limits for a clean P1, while drivers struggled to keep their lap times behind him as driver after driver violated track limits. 

The tailwind was particularly unkind to Lando Norris, who was demoted from second to tenth after failing to get a single valid lap on the board in Q3. George Russell moved up to claim the second spot on the front row. His teammate Lewis Hamilton was another Driver to gain from track limits violations as Oscar Piastri was demoted from third to sixth, seeing Hamilton promoted to third.

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Heading into the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix weekend, the teams were geared up for only one practice session on a newly refurbished track. Data gathering during the session was vital, with a particular focus on tyre degradation and feedback from the drivers to set the weekend’s strategies.

This weekend will be run in the sprint race format, with the practice taking place this morning, followed by the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix Quali for the race on Sunday. Tomorrow will see the teams return to the circuit in the Sprint Qualifying, setting the grid for the Sprint race tomorrow evening.

2023 Qatar Grand Prix – Free Practice

Max Verstappen was fastest in the field during the only Free Practice at the Qatar Grand Prix weekend, while the two Ferraris of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc finished second and third respectively. Fernando Alonso finished in P4 and the second Red Bull of Sergio Perez in fifth.

The track was dusty as the drivers headed out for their first laps on track making it slippier than some were anticipating. However as the session got going, the track cleared – but the drivers were kept on their toes. A number of drivers still ran wide with McLaren’s Lando Norris and Max Verstappen hitting the polystyrene boards that line the trackside.

The session saw many a driver top the times and as the last 15 minutes ticked down, many drivers, including Constructors Champions Red Bull and Ferrari opted to run Qualifying simulations on the soft tyres. Others, including the Mercedes and McLaren drivers, returned to the track with medium tyres. 

Free Practice Classification

At the chequered flag it was Verstappen who assumed his position in P1, followed by Sainz and Leclerc in the Ferraris. Alonso finished within half a second of Verstappen in fourth, followed by Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez. Yuki Tsunoda took sixth, Nico Hulkenberg in seventh in the Haas, George Russell in eight. The McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris finished ninth and tenth respectively.

It was a better session for Logan Sargeant in the Williams who finished P11, closely followed by his teammate Alex Albon in 12th. Lewis Hamilton finished in P13, Lance Stroll in P14, the two Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly following behind in 16th and 17th. Not a great session for the Alfa Romeo team, as Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu were left at the bottom end of the grid in P18 and P19. Kevin Magnussen finished the session in P20.

Qatar GP Qualifying

As has been the case a few times this season, track limits were once again wreaking havoc on the teams as the wind kept up at the Losail circuit. In Q1, 

Q1

Out in Q1 was Zhou Guanyu in 20th, Kevin Magnussen in the Haas in 19th. Liam Lawson, in what could be his last race in the AlphaTauri before the return of Daniel Ricciardo, settled for 18th. In 17th was Lance Stroll, who after having a lap deleted in the first six minutes of the session couldn’t find the pace to make it out of Q1 for the fourth consecutive race. The last driver to not make it through was Logan Sargeant, who was close to outqualifying his teammate Alex Albon.

At the top end of the field, Verstappen had once again claimed P1, with the McLaren of Lando Norris 0.124s behind in P2. Fernando Alonso in the other Aston Martin returned to the pits in P3 while his teammate in P17 would not be coming back out. Piastri rounded out the second row in the second Mclaren. Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull could only manage P11 to Max’s P1.

Q2

As the pressure built around Losail, there were some shock exits in P2. Nico Hulkenberg failed to post a time worthy of more than P15. Williams’ Alexander Albon fell foul to track limits on his last flying lap, wiping his time and leaving him in P14. More upsets were still to come in Q2; Sergio Perez in the Red Bull sits in 13th going into the race after having his last flying lap time deleted. Marginally quicker than Perez was Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz who also failed to post a decent lap. Fresh off of two podiums and three top six finishes in the last three races, he will start much further down on Sunday in 12th. Yuki Tsunoda’s Alpha Tauri was the last car to miss out on Q3 in 11th.

Valtteri Bottas has Sergio Perez to thank for his third Q3 appearance of the year. The Alpha Romeo driver successfully made it through in tenth after Perez’ lap time deletion seen him tumbling down the starting grid. Hamilton would be the driver to top Q2, followed by Verstappen and the two McLarens.

Q3

The track continued to ramp up as the drivers left the pits for Q3. Verstappen proved to be blisteringly quick once again, only completing one flying lap and remaining at the top of the table for the entirety of the session. Lando Norris, after having his first lap deleted, managed to post a lap worthy of P2 with George Russell filtering in behind for P3. Piastri in the McLaren, on good form in his rookie season drove the car to a provisional fourth place, with Lewis Hamilton in fifth. 

Fernando Alonso, regaining some consistency, put the only remaining Aston Martin on sixth with Charles Leclerc, Pierre Gasly, Esteban Ocon and Valtteri Bottas behind in P7-10 respectively.

However even as the drivers began their post-Quali interviews, the starting grid was changing as track limit violations filtered through from the stewards. Ultimately not one but the two McLaren cars found themselves dropping down the standings. Both drivers had their final lap times deleted. The finalised top six then changed to Verstappen, Russell, Hamilton, Alonso, Leclerc and Piastri in P1-6 respectively. Lando Norris failed to post a valid time in Q3, leaving him in P10.

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