Max Verstappen lost what would have been his first pole position for five months to George Russell at the Qatar Grand Prix after the world champion was handed a one-place grid penalty for impeding his Mercedes rival.
Just hours after Verstappen finished eighth in the 19-lap Sprint around the Lusail International Circuit, Red Bull staged a remarkable turnaround in form with set-up changes between sessions appearing to absolutely transform their car into a pole contender in the new four-time world champion’s hands.
The Dutchman, who clinched his fourth successive Drivers’ Championship last week in Las Vegas, topped Q2 but was behind Russell after the first laps of the final stage before turning the tables on the Briton with a brilliant final effort of 1:20.520, pipping the lead Mercedes by 0.055s.
However, Verstappen was subsequently summoned to the stewards after the session for allegedly “driving unnecessarily slowly” on a warm-up lap just before starting his final pole-winning attempt.
TV replays had showed Russell, who was also on a preparation lap, coming up faster behind the Red Bull and having to take sudden evasive action over the Turn 12 kerb to avoid crashing into the back of Verstappen.
Russell labelled Verstappen’s driving as “super dangerous” at the time over Mercedes team radio.
After speaking to both drivers and reviewing an array of data streams and on-board cameras, stewards ultimately upheld the charge and handed Verstappen a pole-losing one-place grid drop.
While the decision reversed the order of the two front-row starters, Sprint one-two finishers McLaren stayed on the second row with Lando Norris third ahead of Oscar Piastri in fourth.
Norris’ Q3 had been compromised by a mistake at Turn Five on his first attempt, when the Briton went wide and put wheels into the gravel. His second lap saw him finish just over two tenths away from Verstappen.
Lando Norris was not surprised at Max Verstappen’s pole position but is hoping it will come back to McLaren in the race.
But Ferrari, McLaren’s main Constructors’ Championship rivals, took only fifth with Charles Leclerc and seventh with Carlos Sainz.
Between the two red cars in sixth will start the Scuderia’ 2025 signing Lewis Hamilton, who again failed to match team-mate Russell’s pace on his penultimate qualifying outing for Mercedes.
A day after declaring he was “definitely not fast anymore” after finishing 0.399s adrift of Russell in Sprint Qualifying, Hamilton’s deficit to his team-mate over a single lap around Lusail grew slightly to 0.436s.
Lewis Hamilton is glad that’s only one more qualifying session in the Mercedes before he joins Ferrari but hopes changes will have more pace in the race.
Fernando Alonso performed well to return Aston Martin to the top 10 in eighth, while Sergio Perez was also back in the Q3 positions in the second Red Bull in a mini-recovery from his wretched start to the weekend in the Sprint events.
However, the Mexican’s ninth-placed finish still paled into insignificance when compared with Verstappen’s efforts, the Dutchman lapping a whopping 0.9s quicker in the sister car.
Kevin Magnussen, enjoying an Indian summer to his Haas career, took 10th after team-mate Nico Hulkenberg, a points scorer in the Sprint, unexpectedly dropped out in Q1.
How did they do that?! Red Bull explain sudden turnaround in pace before penalty
“We threw the kitchen sink at it and pretty much everything we could change, we did change”.
Red Bull boss Christian Horner’s summary of how his team managed to transform the fortunes of what up until Saturday evening’s main qualifying hour had been an ill-handling RB20 around the fast Lusail track.
Having qualified a distant sixth for the Sprint on Friday, Verstappen finished it only eighth behind Hulkenberg after an uncharacteristic poor start in a 19-lap dash dominated by the McLarens and Mercedes’ Russell.
Watch Max Verstappen claim pole at the Qatar Grand Prix, his first since the Austrian Grand Prix in June
On Sprint weekends, teams’ car set-up work is initially condensed into one sole hour of practice but after the short-form Saturday race they can then make more fundamental changes outside of parc ferme before main qualifying for Sunday’s Grand Prix.
The break in sessions seemed to work wonders for Red Bull, although not even Verstappen had thought they would quite re-emerge as pole contenders.
“Crazy! I didn’t expect this,” admitted the Dutchman afterwards and before his grid penalty was confirmed.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen reflects on his near-crash with George Russell during qualifying at the Qatar Grand Prix.
“Well done to the team to give me a car that feels a bit more connected and once the car is a bit more together, you can push harder and it felt a lot better in qualifying.
“We changed a bit on the car but I never thought it would make such a swing in performance, so that’s promising. “I hope it lasts in the race.”
George Russell was left frustrated with Max Verstappen after the pair almost crashed during qualifying in Qatar.
Russell, meanwhile, is now eyeing back-to-back GP wins for the first time a week after triumphing impressively in Las Vegas.
“It’s been a great run so far. The last four qualifyings we’ve been on the front row every one, which I don’t think we could have dreamt of a few races ago,” said Russell when he thought he was starting second behind Verstappen.
“I’m feeling in such a groove at the moment, feeling really great. My first lap was one of the best I’ve ever done and then for whatever reason, I just couldn’t find that extra bit of time on the last lap and Max pipped me.”
McLaren slip from the front but still have first chance to close out title
McLaren’s near-perfect start to the weekend may have suffered its first setback in qualifying but the Constructors’ Championship leaders remain in contention for a Sprint-Grand Prix double that could yet clinch them this year’s teams’ title with one round to spare.
Lando Norris was not surprised at Max Verstappen’s pole position but is hoping it will come back to McLaren in the race.
Having increased their lead to 30 points by finishing first and second in Sprint, the Woking outfit will secure their first constructors’ title since 1998 before next week’s season finale in Abu Dhabi if they outscore Ferrari by at least 15 points and are also not outscored by Red Bull by 23 points or more on Sunday.
“As a qualifying car, we a bit off and did not have the same potential of Red Bull and Mercedes,” admitted Norris, who finished up 0.252s back on pole.
“But I’m hoping it comes back to us in the race a little bit. Hard to know, fine margins. But I’m hoping [Sunday] plays a bit into our hands again.”
Sky Sports F1’s live Qatar GP schedule
Sunday December 1
10.55am: F1 Academy Race Two
12.15pm: F2 Feature Race
2.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Qatar GP build-up
4pm: THE QATAR GRAND PRIX
6pm: Chequered Flag: Qatar GP reaction
7pm: Ted’s Notebook
Formula 1’s season-ending triple-header continues this weekend with the Qatar Grand Prix, live on Sky Sports F1. Get Sky Sports F1 or stream with NOW
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