After initially securing the pole position for Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix, recently crowned Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen was dropped one position on the grid due to driving unnecessarily slow on his cooldown lap.
That vaulted Mercedes’ George Russell to the top spot on the grid.
Prior to the penalty, Verstappen wheeled his Oracle Red Bull Racing machine to the top spot by a mere 0.055 seconds ahead of Russell.
“We did change a bit on the car but I never thought it would make such a swing in performance so that’s promising,” Verstappen said. “I hope of course it also lasts tomorrow in the race – I don’t know that yet. It just felt already a lot more stable over one lap and that’s exactly what we need. Very happy to be on pole – it’s been a while.”
It was an all McLaren lockout of the second row with Lando Norris (third) and sprint winner Oscar Piastri. Charles Leclerc and soon-to-be Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton followed suit in fifth and sixth. Carlos Sainz placed seventh on the grid.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso slotted in eighth ahead of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Haas F-1 driver Kevin Magnussen.
After a strong showing in the sprint, Nico Hulkenberg exited qualifying early in Q1 as he’ll start 18th.