The race at Losail was dominated by track restrictions, coupled with drivers struggling for rear grip in the high-speed layout.
Verstappen clocked 1:23.778 on his first start of season three, which turned out to be pole position time, as he lost the rear of his RB19 on his second attempt through Turn 5.
Norris had already lost a lap time in Q1 tracking the limit and it happened again in his first Q3 flight, as did Verstappen when he went too wide into Turn 5 .
He initially came within 0.3 seconds of Verstappen’s lead on his second attempt of the third quarter, but went too far off the left wing of the long Turn 10, which proved costly for Norris , he fell back to tenth place.
Norris’ mistake moved Mercedes driver George Russell into second ahead of Oscar Piastri and Lewis Hamilton, who was second after the first run of Q3 , but abandoned his second run after wild oversteer at Turn 7 caused him to go off track.
But Piastri’s lap time during the post-race interview was also deleted, allowing Hamilton to move up to third on the grid. Piastri will start from sixth position.
Fernando Alonso finished fifth for Aston Martin, ahead of Charles Leclerc, who needed two tries in the first run of the final stretch Set the time but also gave up his second Q3 flyer when exiting Turn 4 – a recurring problem for Aston Martin’s Ferrari driver throughout qualifying.
Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon finished seventh and eighth ahead of Alfa Romeo driver Valtteri Bottas Valtteri Bottas and the demoted Norris.
Yuki Tsunoda topped the list of those eliminated during the second quarter, with Carlos Sainz and Sergio the notable early losers ahead of Alex Albon and Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg.
Sainz failed to buy time for the new soft tires late in the mid-section – abandoning his first lap moments later at Turn 7 and being involved in an incident with Verstappen, Sainz Seemed to repeatedly cut in front of the Red Bulls’ line as they prepared for the game. Their final effort in the second quarter.
Qualifying has now ended and the incident will be investigated.
Perez was eliminated after losing his best time – he was only marginal in the top 10 in Q2 anyway – and exceeding track limits with a final sprint into Turn 5 And was eliminated.
Albon’s final advance in Q1 edged out his Williams team-mate Logan Sargeant by just 0.092 seconds, with the American driver losing out on a high-speed corner on the track’s final stretch time.
Following closely behind was Lance Stroll in the second Aston, ahead of Liam Lawson, Kevin Magnussen ) and Zhou Guanyu.
Hamilton, Tsunoda, Lawson and Piastri also face a post-qualifying investigation into possible failure to comply with race director instructions on maximum lap times, which were intended to reduce traffic during qualifying. question.
