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Formula 1 Qatar GP

F1 Grand Prix qualifying results: Hamilton takes Qatar pole

Lewis Hamilton took pole position for the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix at Losail International Circuit, the 20th round of the 2021 F1 World Championship, ahead of title rival Max Verstappen.

Charles Bradley

Charles Bradley

Edited: Nov 20, 2021, 7:51 PM

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Hamilton will start ahead of the Red Bull of Verstappen and his Mercedes teammate Valtteri Bottas after the one-hour qualifying session, which is split into three segments with five cars each being knocked out in Q1 and Q2 before the top-10 shootout of Q3.

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Qatar Grand Prix qualifying results: Hamilton on pole from Verstappen

Cla Driver Time Gap km/h 1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes F1 W12 EQ Power+ 1'20.827 239.622 2 Netherlands Max Verstappen
Red Bull Racing-Honda RB16B 1'21.282 0.455 238.281 3 Finland Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes F1 W12 EQ Power+ 1'21.478 0.651 237.708 4 France Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri-Honda AT02 1'21.640 0.813 237.236 5 Spain Fernando Alonso
Alpine-Renault A521 1'21.670 0.843 237.149 6 United Kingdom Lando Norris
McLaren-Mercedes MCL35M 1'21.731 0.904 236.972 7 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr.
Ferrari SF21 1'21.840 1.013 236.656 8 Japan Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri-Honda AT02 1'21.881 1.054 236.538 9 France Esteban Ocon
Alpine-Renault A521 1'22.028 1.201 236.114 10 Germany Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin-Mercedes AMR21 1'22.785 1.958 233.955 11 Mexico Sergio Perez
Red Bull Racing-Honda RB16B 1'22.346 1.519 235.202 12 Canada Lance Stroll
Aston Martin-Mercedes AMR21 1'22.460 1.633 234.877 13 Monaco Charles Leclerc
Ferrari SF21 1'22.463 1.636 234.868 14 Australia Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren-Mercedes MCL35M 1'22.597 1.770 234.487 15 United Kingdom George Russell
Williams-Mercedes FW43B 1'22.756 1.929 234.037 16 Finland Kimi Raikkonen
Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari C41 1'23.156 2.329 232.911 17 Canada Nicholas Latifi
Williams-Mercedes FW43B 1'23.213 2.386 232.752 18 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo Racing-Ferrari C41 1'23.262 2.435 232.615 19 Germany Mick Schumacher
Haas-Ferrari VF-21 1'23.407 2.580 232.210 20 Russian Federation Nikita Mazepin
Haas-Ferrari VF-21 1'25.859 5.032 225.579 View full results

What happened in Q1?

Hamilton set the early bar in Q1, lapping in 1m22.019s, two tenths clear of Verstappen. After a poor first run, Bottas went P1 by 0.003s on the same set of soft tyres at his second attempt with 1m22.016s.

Verstappen then took the top spot with a lap of 1m21.996s, 0.02s quicker than Bottas, but Hamilton responded on the very last lap of the session, producing 1m21.901s, to beat his title rival by 0.095s.

Falling at the first hurdle were Kimi Raikkonen (Alfa Romeo), Nicholas Latifi (Williams), Antonio Giovinazzi (Alfa Romeo) and the Haases of Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin.

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Qatar Grand Prix Q1 results: Hamilton fastest from Verstappen

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h 1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes 6 1'21.901 236.480 2 Netherlands Max Verstappen
Red Bull 6 1'21.996 0.095 0.095 236.206 3 Finland Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes 8 1'22.016 0.115 0.020 236.149 4 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr.
Ferrari 9 1'22.304 0.403 0.288 235.322 5 Mexico Sergio Perez
Red Bull 6 1'22.398 0.497 0.094 235.054 6 Spain Fernando Alonso
Alpine 6 1'22.422 0.521 0.024 234.985 7 Japan Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri 6 1'22.458 0.557 0.036 234.883 8 France Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri 8 1'22.535 0.634 0.077 234.664 9 Germany Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin 9 1'22.549 0.648 0.014 234.624 10 Canada Lance Stroll
Aston Martin 9 1'22.551 0.650 0.002 234.618 11 France Esteban Ocon
Alpine 6 1'22.565 0.664 0.014 234.578 12 Australia Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren 8 1'22.688 0.787 0.123 234.229 13 Monaco Charles Leclerc
Ferrari 9 1'22.742 0.841 0.054 234.077 14 United Kingdom Lando Norris
McLaren 7 1'22.839 0.938 0.097 233.802 15 United Kingdom George Russell
Williams 10 1'22.863 0.962 0.024 233.735 16 Finland Kimi Raikkonen
Alfa Romeo 9 1'23.156 1.255 0.293 232.911 17 Canada Nicholas Latifi
Williams 10 1'23.213 1.312 0.057 232.752 18 Italy Antonio Giovinazzi
Alfa Romeo 8 1'23.262 1.361 0.049 232.615 19 Germany Mick Schumacher
Haas 9 1'23.407 1.506 0.145 232.210 20 Russian Federation Nikita Mazepin
Haas 9 1'25.859 3.958 2.452 225.579 View full results

What happened in Q2?

The pole position hunters started this session using the medium tyre, with Hamilton setting the pace on 1m21.682s, three tenths up on Verstappen. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly got in between them, however, using soft tyres after getting through Q1 on mediums.

The second runs were taken with almost all of the runners on softs, apart from Sainz who didn’t improve but made it through to Q3 anyway. Gasly improved to 0.046s off Hamilton’s P1 time, and Fernando Alonso’s Alpine jumped up to an impressive third.

The big surprise here was Red Bull’s Sergio Perez failing to make Q3, despite switching to soft tyres and failing to dislodge Sainz by 0.105s – blaming it on the timing of the run.

Also knocked out at this point were Lance Stroll (Aston Martin), Charles Leclerc (Ferrari, who reported he had “no idea” what was wrong), Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren) and George Russell (Williams).

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Qatar Grand Prix Grand Prix Q2 results: Hamilton fastest from Gasly

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h 1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes 6 1'21.682 237.114 2 France Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri 6 1'21.728 0.046 0.046 236.981 3 Spain Fernando Alonso
Alpine 6 1'21.894 0.212 0.166 236.500 4 Netherlands Max Verstappen
Red Bull 6 1'21.984 0.302 0.090 236.241 5 Finland Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes 6 1'21.991 0.309 0.007 236.221 6 France Esteban Ocon
Alpine 6 1'22.012 0.330 0.021 236.160 7 Japan Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri 6 1'22.058 0.376 0.046 236.028 8 Germany Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin 6 1'22.146 0.464 0.088 235.775 9 United Kingdom Lando Norris
McLaren 8 1'22.216 0.534 0.070 235.574 10 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr.
Ferrari 6 1'22.241 0.559 0.025 235.502 11 Mexico Sergio Perez
Red Bull 6 1'22.346 0.664 0.105 235.202 12 Canada Lance Stroll
Aston Martin 6 1'22.460 0.778 0.114 234.877 13 Monaco Charles Leclerc
Ferrari 6 1'22.463 0.781 0.003 234.868 14 Australia Daniel Ricciardo
McLaren 7 1'22.597 0.915 0.134 234.487 15 United Kingdom George Russell
Williams 6 1'22.756 1.074 0.159 234.037 View full results

What happened in Q3?

On the first run, Hamilton set the pace at 1m21.262s, 0.162s faster than Verstappen’s 1m21.424s and two tenths clear of Bottas’s 1m21.478s.

On the second run, Hamilton unleashed his 1m20.827s, taking pole by 0.455s ahead of Verstappen. Gasly – who was running directly behind Hamilton – then punctured his right-front tyre after smashing a kerb and breaking his front wing.

He ground to a halt before the finish line, causing an intermittent yellow flag in the final sector – causing some drivers to abort their runs. But some drivers, including Verstappen, improved their times.

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Bottas will start third, ahead of Gasly, whose opening lap was good enough for fourth, Alonso, Norris, Sainz, Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri), Esteban Ocon (Alpine) and Sebastian Vettel (Aston Martin).

Qatar Grand Prix Q3 results: Hamilton takes pole

Cla Driver Chassis Laps Time Gap Interval km/h 1 United Kingdom Lewis Hamilton
Mercedes 6 1'20.827 239.622 2 Netherlands Max Verstappen
Red Bull 6 1'21.282 0.455 0.455 238.281 3 Finland Valtteri Bottas
Mercedes 6 1'21.478 0.651 0.196 237.708 4 France Pierre Gasly
AlphaTauri 5 1'21.640 0.813 0.162 237.236 5 Spain Fernando Alonso
Alpine 6 1'21.670 0.843 0.030 237.149 6 United Kingdom Lando Norris
McLaren 6 1'21.731 0.904 0.061 236.972 7 Spain Carlos Sainz Jr.
Ferrari 6 1'21.840 1.013 0.109 236.656 8 Japan Yuki Tsunoda
AlphaTauri 6 1'21.881 1.054 0.041 236.538 9 France Esteban Ocon
Alpine 6 1'22.028 1.201 0.147 236.114 10 Germany Sebastian Vettel
Aston Martin 6 1'22.785 1.958 0.757 233.955 View full results

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