McLaren’s Lando Norris dominated Sprint Qualifying to claim pole for the 2024 Qatar Sprint.
Having finished second behind Charles Leclerc in Practice, Norris dominated all three sprint qualifying segments to take pole position in a British front-row lockout from Mercedes’ George Russell.
Practice
Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly were first on track and Ocon set 1m 28.979 as the immediate benchmark time on medium tyres, which was swiftly beaten as Max Verstappen traded the quickest lap with Yuki Tsunoda.
Russell and Gasly then briefly went quicker but Verstappen soon set the pace with 1m 23.885 just 14 minutes into the session, but Leclerc four minutes posted 1m 23.702 to go top on the hard tyre.
Leclerc found 0.283 seconds in the 34th minute to lower his benchmark until Sainz posted 1m 23.068, albeit also on the hard tyre like his Ferrari teammate plus both Williams drivers.
Everyone left the soft tyre qualifying simulations until the last ten minutes in which Leclerc emerged quickest on 1m 21.953, with McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri plus Sainz the only drivers to get within one second of his lap time.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1m 21.953 |
| 2 | Lando Norris | McLaren | + 0.425 |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.472 |
| 4 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.582 |
| 5 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | + 1.092 |
| 6 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | + 1.111 |
| 7 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 1.146 |
| 8 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 1.207 |
| 9 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 1.208 |
| 10 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 1.235 |
| 11 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 1.260 |
| 12 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | + 1.274 |
| 13 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 1.292 |
| 14 | Liam Lawson | RB | + 1.609 |
| 15 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 1.667 |
| 16 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 1.762 |
| 17 | Guanyu Zhou | Sauber | + 1.927 |
| 18 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | + 2.086 |
| 19 | Franco Colapinto | Williams | + 2.247 |
| 20 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 2.327 |
Sprint Qualifying
SQ1
Magnussen was first on track and set 1m 23.750 as the immediate benchmark time but once almost everyone set a lap time, Norris sat top on 1m 22.785 whilst the bottom five comprised of; Perez, Lawson, Zhou, Colapinto and Alonso who hadn’t set a time.
With a minute left, Stroll, Alonso, Zhou, Hulkenberg and Colapinto sat in the elimination zone but as the checkered flag fell, Stroll, Alonso and Hulkenberg survived.
Perez however could only qualify 16th ahead of Tsunoda and Ocon, with Zhou and Colapinto filling the back row.
Norris meanwhile finished SQ1 quickest with 1m 21.356 ahead of Sainz and Russell.
SQ2
Hulkenberg and Magnussen were the first pair to venture out onto the circuit and Hulkenberg proceeded to set 1m 22.416 as the initial benchmark time.
Once everyone had set a lap time, Piastri was quickest on 1m 22.050 whilst the bottom five contained: Lawson, Alonso, Stroll, Bottas and Magnussen, with the Dane’s lap time deleted as was Piastri’s just moments later.
As the checkered flag fell, Norris again finished quickest with 1m 21.231 whilst Alonso, Albon, Bottas, Stroll and Magnussen were eliminated.
SQ3
Lawson was first to head out on track and a benchmark 1m 22.577 as the top ten switched from medium to soft tyres for this segment.
Once everyone bar Hulkenberg set a lap time, Norris set the pace on 1m 21.012 from Piastri and Leclerc, only for Russell to go third from Verstappen on their next fliers.
Once the checkered flag fell, Norris aborted his final lap but claimed pole from Russell who beat Piastri to second, with Sainz and Leclerc fourth and fifth respectively.
Newly-crowned four-time consecutive champion, Verstappen could only manage sixth ahead of; Hamilton, Gasly, Lawson and Hulkenberg.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1m 21.012 |
| 2 | George Russell | Mercedes | + 0.063 |
| 3 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | + 0.159 |
| 4 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | + 0.269 |
| 5 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | + 0.296 |
| 6 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | + 0.303 |
| 7 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | + 0.462 |
| 8 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | + 0.966 |
| 9 | Liam Lawson | RB | + 1.076 |
| 10 | Nico Hulkenberg | Haas | + 1.565 |
| 11 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 1m 22.433 |
| 12 | Alex Albon | Williams | + 0.093 |
| 13 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | + 0.105 |
| 14 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | + 0.166 |
| 15 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | + 0.305 |
| 16 | Sergio Perez | Red Bull | 1m 22.718 |
| 17 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | + 0.004 |
| 18 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | + 0.188 |
| 19 | Guanyu Zhou | Sauber | + 0.230 |
| 20 | Franco Colapinto | Williams | + 0.705 |
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