2024 Qatar GP Sprint Qualifying: Lando lands pole position

Lando Norris delivered a stellar performance to claim pole position for the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix Sprint, as McLaren landed the first blow in their constructors’ title battle with Ferrari by locking in first and third on Saturday’s grid.

Just days after his Drivers’ Championship hopes against Max Verstappen officially ended in Las Vegas, Norris dominated all three segments of Sprint Qualifying at the high-speed Lusail International Circuit, securing an emphatic pole position.

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Mercedes’ George Russell, fresh off his victory in Las Vegas, disrupted McLaren’s bid for a front-row sweep by edging out Oscar Piastri to claim P2 on the grid. Norris posted a benchmark time of 1:21.012, narrowly beating Russell by 0.063 seconds, while Piastri was another 0.096 seconds behind. Ironically, Russell’s race number being no.63.

Ferrari, trailing McLaren by 24 points in the constructors’ standings with two race weekends remaining, showed promise in the earlier practice session but faltered in SQ3. Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc could only manage fourth and fifth, respectively.

Newly crowned four-time champion Max Verstappen was off the pace in his Red Bull, qualifying a distant sixth. However, that still outshone his struggling teammate Sergio Perez, who endured yet another disappointing session. Knocked out in SQ1 in 16th place, Perez marked his seventh early exit in qualifying this season, adding fuel to ongoing speculation about his future beyond the season’s conclusion in just over a week’s time.

Lewis Hamilton was once again comprehensively outqualified by his Mercedes teammate, George Russell, and would start the Sprint from seventh on the grid. Alpine’s Pierre Gasly secured eighth, continuing his strong late-season form.

Red Bull junior Liam Lawson, rumoured to be in contention for Sergio Perez’s seat in 2025, made the top 10. However, he lost ninth place to Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg after his final lap was deleted due to a track limits violation.

Qatar GP Sprint Qualifying Results

2024 Qatar Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying, 29 November 2024

Pos	No	Driver	Car	Q1	Q2	Q3	Laps
1	4	Lando Norris	McLaren Mercedes	1:21.356	1:21.231	1:21.012	16
2	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:22.021	1:21.488	1:21.075	16
3	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren Mercedes	1:22.218	1:21.548	1:21.171	16
4	55	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	1:21.838	1:21.809	1:21.281	19
5	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:22.156	1:21.818	1:21.308	18
6	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	1:22.033	1:21.784	1:21.315	21
7	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:22.151	1:21.734	1:21.474	19
8	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine Renault	1:22.586	1:22.352	1:21.978	19
9	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas Ferrari	1:22.569	1:22.318	1:22.088	15
10	30	Liam Lawson	RB Honda RBPT	1:22.705	1:22.393	1:22.577	20
11	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	1:22.499	1:22.433		12
12	23	Alexander Albon	Williams Mercedes	1:22.705	1:22.526		14
13	77	Valtteri Bottas	Kick Sauber Ferrari	1:22.506	1:22.538		13
14	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes	1:22.522	1:22.599		14
15	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari	1:22.560	1:22.738		14
16	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT	1:22.718			7
17	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB Honda RBPT	1:22.722			7
18	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine Renault	1:22.906			7
19	24	Zhou Guanyu	Kick Sauber Ferrari	1:22.948			8
20	43	Franco Colapinto	Williams Mercedes	1:23.423			8

After a rare underwhelming outing in Las Vegas the previous week, McLaren anticipated their car would return to its competitive best at the Lusail Circuit, with its sweeping high-speed corners suiting the car’s strengths. That expectation was emphatically confirmed during the Friday night session.

Lando Norris dominated Sprint Qualifying, setting the fastest time in all three segments. While his advantage shrank from an early margin of half a second in SQ1, the Briton consistently appeared in control, maintaining enough pace to stay ahead of the competition.

Despite aborting his final lap due to “too many mistakes,” Norris held onto pole position, narrowly fending off an improving George Russell. With a strong starting position, Norris aimed to capitalise on his advantage in Saturday’s 25-lap Sprint.

2024 Qatar Sprint Starting Grid

The Sprint starting grid, with or without penalties, after the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying session.

Pos	No	Driver	Car
1	4	Lando Norris	McLaren Mercedes
2	63	George Russell	Mercedes
3	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren Mercedes
4	55	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari
5	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari
6	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT
7	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes
8	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine Renault
9	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas Ferrari
10	30	Liam Lawson	RB Honda RBPT
11	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes
12	23	Alexander Albon	Williams Mercedes
13	77	Valtteri Bottas	Kick Sauber Ferrari
14	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin Aramco Mercedes
15	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas Ferrari
16	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB Honda RBPT
17	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine Renault
18	24	Zhou Guanyu	Kick Sauber Ferrari
19	11	Sergio Perez¹	Red Bull Racing Honda RBPT
20	43	Franco Colapinto¹	Williams Mercedes

¹Sergio Perez and Franco Colapinto required to start from the pit lane after making set-up changes under parc ferme regulations.

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Ben is a staff writer specialising in F1 from the 1990s to the modern era. Ben has been following Formula 1 since 1986 and is an avid researcher who loves understanding the technology that makes it one of the most exciting motorsport on the planet. He listens to podcasts about F1 on a daily basis, and enjoys reading books from the inspirational Adrian Newey to former F1 drivers.