Max Verstappen beat George Russell to pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix. Lando Norris qualified third in a disappointing drop-off for McLaren.
Russell carried his strong pace in the sprint race over into qualifying, laying down the early markers at the head of the field. He finished ahead of the two Ferrari drivers in Q1, while team-mate Lewis Hamilton struggled down in P7.
Nico Hulkenberg was the hero of the sprint earlier in the day but couldn’t find a way out of Q1, while Williams’ difficult run ended with a double elimination. Esteban Ocon and Liam Lawson were the other drivers who dropped in the first part of qualifying.
Max Verstappen’s performance was muted during Q1, but the Dutchman snapped into form in the second part of qualifying. After the first runs, he was at the top of the timing screens, and after briefly dropping behind Norris, he set a blistering lap to go nearly three-tenths clear of the rest of the field.
Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas both flirted with a rare Q3 appearance for the still-pointless Sauber team but were ultimately eliminated, while Pierre Gasly, Lance Stroll and Yuki Tsunoda were also denied a chance to fight for pole position.