Dominant Hamilton secures pole position ahead of the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton’s fantastic 1:20.827 saw him claim pole position by close to five-tenths over his championship rival Max Verstappen.

Mercedes have the upper hand heading into the Grand Prix with Hamilton on pole and Valtteri Bottas in third. Verstappen will have a tough task on his hands as he is the lone Red Bull inside the top 10 after Sergio Perez failed to qualify for Q3.

Q1

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The two Haas’ of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin were out onto the track first as the first qualifying session got underway.

Schumacher set the first time of the session but his lap was deleted due to a track limits infringement at turn two.

Ferrari duo, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, set the tone as they moved up to first and second before the quick lap times started to come in.

Sergio Perez moved to the top stop before being dislodged by Lando Norris who in turn was relegated down to third by Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

After a few attempts, Valtteri Bottas was finally able to pop up with the quickest time of the session, three-thousandths quicker than his teammate Hamilton.

With five minutes to go, the Mercedes driver led the way with the two Red Bulls not far behind as the top five was completed by Fernando Alonso.

Moments later, Verstappen was the first driver to set a time inside the 1:21’s as he went two-hundredths quicker than Bottas.

However, it was Hamilton who finished the session on top with his lap time of 1:21.901 a tenth quicker than Verstappen in second and Bottas in third.

The drivers eliminated from Q1 were Kimi Raikkonen, Nicholas Latifi, Antonio Giovinazzi, Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

Q2

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George Russell was the first driver out onto the Losail International Circuit as he set the first time of the session with a 1:22.925 but that quickly eclipsed by Norris.

The times started to fly in as Hamilton went quickest with a 1:21.682 with the top four only separated by a three-tenths.

With five minutes to go, Hamilton retained his place at the top as the soft tyre running Pierre Gasly in second and Verstappen in third.

At the end of the session, Russell was the first driver over the line but he was unable to claim a spot inside the top 10.

However, Leclerc, Perez and Ricciardo were all knocked out of the session as they failed to improve on their final flying runs. Lance Stroll and Russell joined the trio in the bottom five with Hamilton the quickest man of the second qualifying session.

Q3

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Mercedes duo of Hamilton and Bottas were out onto the track first as they looked to set their first competitive lap times ahead of the pole position shootout.

The former was first to cross the line with a time of 1:21.262 over two-tenths quicker than teammate Bottas as Norris moved up to third early on.

Verstappen was the next driver over the line as he claimed second place with Mercedes holding the upper hand.

With five minutes to go, Hamilton was on provisional pole with Verstappen in second and Bottas in third. Gasly was fourth ahead of Alonso in fifth, Sainz in sixth, Norris in seventh, Yuki Tsunoda in eighth, Esteban Ocon in ninth and Sebastian Vettel in 10th.

Hamilton extended his pole position advantage with a brilliant 1:20.827. Behind him, Gasly lost his front wing which in turn saw him pick up a puncture and saw the rest of the field having to abort their final runs.

The two championship rivals line up on the front row of the grid with Hamilton in first and Verstappen in second. Bottas will be on hand to help his Mercedes teammate as he qualified third, Gasly followed in fourth, Alonso in fifth, Norris in sixth, Sainz in seventh, Tsunoda in eighth, Ocon in ninth and Vettel rounded out the top 10 ahead of Qatar Grand Prix.

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