Lewis Hamilton will start the first ever Qatar Grand Prix on pole position after a mighty qualifying session with title rival Max Verstappen in second and Valtteri Bottas in third.
Lewis Hamilton quickest in Q1
Q1 was a relatively quiet session as the drivers were still getting used to the track. On the first set of laps, it was the Mercedes show, with Bottas just barely inching out Hamilton to the quickest time. Fernando Alonso set a great lap in his Alpine that saw him fifth.
On the second set of laps, Verstappen went out early, which left him an empty track to set the first sub one minute 22 second lap of the session. But by the end of the session, it was Hamilton who went quickest overall.
We lost Nikita Mazepin, Mick Schumacher, Antonio Giovinazzi, Nicholas Latifi and Kimi Raikkonen from the session.
Sergio Perez knocked out in Q2 after finishing 12th
In Q2, the medium tyre was the way to go on the first set of laps, with most wanting to start the race on the yellow striped tyres. Pierre Gasly, on the soft tyres, managed to put his Alpha Tauri in second, three tenths behind Hamilton. Sergio Perez found himself struggling in 12th, joined by the equally struggling McLaren duo and Charles Leclerc.
It was a shocking end to Q2, where Perez could not make it out of the session on the soft tyres. He joined Lance Stroll, Charles Leclerc, Daniel Ricciardo and George Russell who could not make it through. With Hamilton setting the fastest lap of the session.
Hamilton makes history in Qatar
To start Q3, Mercedes jumped everyone and instantly went out. And it paid off as Hamilton edged out Verstappen to provisional pole. Gasly and Alonso continued the constructors battle between AlphaTauri and Alpine, sitting in provisional fourth and fifth.
To end the session, it was Hamilton who once again went out first. His championship rival, Verstappen, went out last.
Hamilton set a blistering lap, three tenths quicker than his previous. However, the session came to an anti-climactic end as Gasly crashed near the end of the lap – stopping the laps of any drivers behind him, which included Verstappen and Bottas.
Gasly still ended up fourth ahead of Alonso. Lando Norris will start sixth with Carlos Sainz in seventh. Yuki Tsunoda will start in eighth with Esteban Ocon in ninth and Sebastian Vettel in 10th.
By Charlie Parker
