Max Verstappen dominated Practice and Qualifying to claim pole for 2023 Qatar Grand Prix.
Verstappen survived a competitive Practice to finish fastest and took his momentum in Qualifying as he topped two of the three Qualifying segments, which delivered him a 10th pole position for a Grand Prix this season.
Track limit drama however saw Mercedes’ George Russell qualify second ahead of Lewis Hamilton, whilst one top driver suffered a shock Q2 exit.
Now, here is a roundup of all the action across Practice and Qualifying for 2023 Qatar GP.
Practice
Haas’ Kevin Magnussen was first out onto a dusty track alongside teammate, Nico Hulkenberg, and set the benchmark time of 1m 42.411 on medium tyres in the fourth minute, only to be quickly usurped by several drivers.
Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso ended up fastest once the first flying laps were completed with 1m 34.724 but Russell soon began to dominate briefly on the hard tyre, as he lowered the benchmark time to 1m 29.725 on the hard tyre in the 19th minute.
Russell however briefly lost top spot to Lewis Hamilton and Alonso in the 12 and 13th minutes respectively, but it was Alonso who was quickest at the halfway mark with 1m 28.624 – set in the 24th minute – ahead of Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen.
Alonso’s time wouldn’t be beaten until McLaren’s Oscar Piastri on the hard tyre posted 1m 28.380 in the 40th minute to go top by 0.244 seconds, with his teammate – Lando Norris going second by 0.061s slower.
Leclerc five minutes later produced 1m 28.104 on the medium tyre to go quickest from the McLaren pair.
Williams’ Alex Albon was the first driver to attempt a soft-tyre run but twice backed out of his flying laps due to the dusty conditions, especially at Turn 4.
Hulkenberg however adapted quickly on the soft tyre and went second fastest with six minutes left as he posts 1m 28.171 to leap up the order.
Alonso meanwhile produced 1m 27.919 to go fastest in the 55th minute, but Verstappen two minutes later on the soft tyre posted 1m 27.428 to go quickest.
As the checkered flag fell, Verstappen finished fastest from Sainz and Leclerc with majority of the top ten runners setting their fastest laps on the soft tyre, aside from Alonso and Russell on the medium tyre plus Piastri and Norris on hard tyre.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 27.428 |
| 2 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.334 |
| 3 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.481 |
| 4 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.491 |
| 5 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.588 |
| 6 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | + 0.599 |
| 7 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 0.743 |
| 8 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.908 |
| 9 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.952 |
| 10 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 1.013 |
| 11 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | + 1.122 |
| 12 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.162 |
| 13 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 1.251 |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.262 |
| 15 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 1.304 |
| 16 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.393 |
| 17 | Valtteri Bottas | Alfa Romeo | + 1.613 |
| 18 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa Romeo | + 1.678 |
| 19 | Liam Lawson | AlphaTauri | + 1.810 |
| 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 2.074 |
Qualifying
Q1
Red Bull’s Perez was first out on track and set the benchmark time of 1m 28.495 but several drivers quickly displaced him, as Verstappen went top with 1m 26.884 seconds later.
Leclerc then found 0.440s before Norris briefly went fastest with 1m 26.043 but his lap was deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 5, but Alonso found himself quickest at the halfway mark with 1m 25.685.
Zhou, Norris, Russell, Hamilton and Hulkenberg meanwhile sat in the elimination zone, with Russell and Hamilton having aborted their initial medium tyre runs for the quicker soft tyre.
Track evolution on the newly resurfaced circuit however continued to ramp up and as the checkered flag fell, Sargeant was denied the chance to outqualify his teammate – Albon by 0.092s and qualified 16th ahead of Stroll, Lawson, Magnussen and Zhou.
Verstappen meanwhile topped Q1 with 1m 25.007 set on his final run in the segment.
Q2
Piastri was first out on track in Q2 and set the initial benchmark time of 1m 25.745 but only Leclerc then Gasly could usurp his time until Verstappen delivered 1m 24.758 in the sixth minute to go fastest.
Once everyone had set at least one lap tim including Norris and Ocon whose lap times were deleted for exceeding track limits, the elimination zone compromised of; Piastri, Hulkenberg, Sainz, Bottas and Norris, although some had ran old softs in their opening Q2 stints.
Piastri climbed out of the bottom five in the 12th minute as he posted 1m 24.724 to go top, with Norris displacing him seconds later by 0.039s, as the pair consequently dropped Ocon and Albon into the bottom five.
Once the checkered flag fell, Hulkenberg finished slowest and qualified 15th behind Albon who was 14th quickest, whilst Perez unexpectedly found himself 13th after his fastest lap was deleted due to track limits.
Sainz could only qualify 12th behind Tsunoda who missed out on Q3 by just 0.004s to Bottas.
Hamilton meanwhile finished quickest with 1m 24.381 ahead of Verstappen and Norris.
Q3
Bottas was the sole driver to venture out at the start of Q3 as the top ten opted for a mix of used and new soft tyres for their opening Q3 runs, and the Finnish driver posted 1m 25.586 to set the benchmark time.
Alonso beat that time with 1m 25.257 only for Norris to deliver 1m 24.088 but his lap was deleted for exceeding track limits, as Piastri went quickest with 1m 24.540 and 0.717s ahead of Alonso.
Verstappen soon seized provisional pole with 1m 23.778 ahead of Hamilton, Russell, Piastri, Leclerc, whilst Ocon, Alonso, Gasly, Bottas and Norris rounded out the top ten order at the halfway mark.
In the ninth minute, Verstappen was first out for the final Q3 runs whilst Russell grinded to a halt briefly in the pits, although the Brit soon got going again.
As the checkered flag fell, Verstappen didn’t improve as he claimed his tenth pole position of the season for a Grand Prix, ahead of Russell who beat Piastri to second by 0.009s ahead of Hamilton, Alonso, Leclerc, Gasly, Ocon and Bottas.
Norris briefly qualified second but again had his lap time deleted for exceeding track limits and will start tenth, whilst his teammate – Piastri saw his lap time deleted minutes later which demoted the Australian to sixth from third in the order.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1m 23.778 |
| 2 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.441 |
| 3 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.527 |
| 4 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 0.591 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.646 |
| 6 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.762 |
| 7 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.775 |
| 8 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.985 |
| 9 | Valtteri Bottas | Alpine | + 1.280 |
| 10 | Lando Norris | McLaren | No Time |
| 11 | Yuki Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | 1m 25.301 |
| 12 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.027 |
| 13 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 0.161 |
| 14 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.406 |
| 15 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 0.482 |
| 16 | Logan Sargeant | Williams | 1m 26.210 |
| 17 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.135 |
| 18 | Liam Lawson | AlphaTauri | + 0.425 |
| 19 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.836 |
| 20 | Guanyu Zhou | Alfa | + 1.222 |