Max Verstappen may have secured pole position for Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix; however, he won’t line up P1.
The Dutchman received a one-place grid drop for driving “unnecessarily slowly on a cool-down lap,” according to the stewards’ decision that came a few hours after qualifying ended. In Q3 of qualifying, Verstappen was trying to cool his tires when the incident occurred. Russell had not expected Verstappen to be driving so slowly on the racing line and had to pull up and swerve to avoid a collision.
“The Stewards regard this case as a complicated one in that clearly Car 1 (Verstappen) did not comply with the Race Director’s Event Notes and clearly was driving, in our determination, unnecessarily slowly considering the circumstances,” the stewards’ decision read.
Verstappen will start P2, while Russell starts from pole position.
This would have been Verstappen’s first pole position since the Austrian GP in June. This also happened earlier this year when he qualified first in Belgium but had an engine penalty, which dropped him 10 grid positions.
George Russell, who initially qualified second, will now line up P1.Qualifying looked rather different than sprint qualifying a day prior. Some drivers who performed solidly and advanced to SQ3 on Friday, like Pierre Gasly, Liam Lawson and Nico Hulkenberg, didn’t have a similar performance on Saturday, as none made Q3. Meanwhile, others like Sergio Pérez struggled during sprint qualifying and the sprint race but advanced to Q3.
The competitive picture shifted because the cars were out of parc fermé between the sprint race and qualifying on Saturday. Teams are allowed to make adjustments during this window to the cars’ setups. However, there was some consistency — both McLarens, Ferraris, and Mercedes cars (as well as Verstappen) advanced to Q3.
The Dutchman had a surprising qualifying on the hunt for pole throughout. It contrasted his sprint performance, where he finished eighth, and he even commended the team for the turnaround over the radio: “Let’s f—ing go, guys! Well done, what a turnaround. Yes!” As for the papaya, McLaren’s sprint performance didn’t carry over, though they’ll line up ahead of the Ferraris.
Verstappen had qualified first at the Belgian Grand Prix in July but took a grid drop penalty for exceeding his engine allowance and didn’t start from pole.
All eyes likely will be on Ferrari and McLaren. After Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris finished 1-2 in the sprint race earlier on Saturday, the championship gap between McLaren and Ferrari widened slightly, as the Woking-based crew secured a combined 15 points and the Prancing Horse took nine combined points. It’s a 30-point gap with 88 points remaining this season, and McLaren needs to outscore Ferrari by 15 points during Sunday’s grand prix to secure its first constructors’ championship since 1998.
Here’s how the top 10 qualified.
- Max Verstappen
- George Russell
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Charles Leclerc
- Lewis Hamilton
- Carlos Sainz
- Fernando Alonso
- Sergio Perez
- Kevin Magnussen
Max Verstappen produces a blistering lap to go top of Q2 by three tenths 🥵
And Kevin Magnussen’s lap lands him a spot in the top 10!#F1 #QatarGP pic.twitter.com/HC2hd19hLQ
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 30, 2024
Top photo of Max Verstappen: Alessio Morgese/NurPhoto via Getty Images
