By:
James Newbold
One team that will need a big turnaround from the sprint to contend for pole is Red Bull. Max Verstappen bemoaned a lack of grip that left him comparing his RB20 to a rally car. He struggled to eighth in the sprint, unable to close down Nico Hulkenberg, whose two points scored for Haas could be vital in the fight for sixth in the constructors’ standings. Sergio Perez meanwhile had a nightmare sprint, as we shall now detail.
Carlos Sainz sat fourth throughout the sprint race, ahead of Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc. As a result, McLaren has extended its advantage in the constructors’ championship fight, so it will be crucial for Ferrari to put on a good show tonight and get back into the mix.
Norris did control proceedings throughout the sprint race, before handing victory to Piastri at the final corner. But Piastri had to keep his elbows very wide indeed to hold Russell at bay, with the Briton vocal in his displeasure over the radio at what he saw as late moves. If he’d been able to get through on Piastri, it would have been very interesting indeed to see if he could have taken the fight to Norris.
Lando Norris seized the top spot yesterday in sprint qualifying, but it was a close-run thing. He only beat George Russell to the top spot by 0.063s. Which is, well, close.
Hello and welcome to Autosport’s live text coverage of qualifying for Formula 1’s Qatar Grand Prix. For the penultimate time in 2024, we’re getting ready to set the grid and things look once again to be fairly unpredictable at the sharp end.
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