Autobayng News Team
This session has finished. No further updates will be posted.
That concludes our coverage of qualifying. Here’s the report on the session and the grid for the main event.
Russell has to settle for fourth, a hundredth of a second behind Verstappen.
Antonelli takes fifth.
Norris doesn’t start a lap – Piastri caught him at the end of the lap. Piastri takes pole position off him, Verstappen goes third.
Piastri is fractionally faster than Norris in the first sector.
Norris abandons his first lap after a mistake at turn two.
The session resumes, the drivers hold back at first, then head for the exit. Russell leaves first, followed by Norris, Leclerc, Alonso, Hadjar, Piastri, Gasly, Verstappen, Antonelli and Sainz. Alonso, Gasly and Leclerc are on used tyres.
Q3 will restart at 10pm local time.
Red flag for debris – the sticker from Leclerc’s car.
Leclerc had a huge, 720-degree spin at the exit of turn 15.
Russell takes third off Verstappen with a 1’19.842. Sainz is under investigation for leaving the pits in an unsafe fashion – there was a piece of plastic attached to his car’s rear wheels.
Verstappen does a 1’19.949, four tenths of a second off Norris in third.
Piastri crosses the line and he’s just three hundredths of a second off his team mate. Hadjar third, six-tenths of a second off Norris.
Norris sets a 1’19.495 which is the fastest lap time yet – but Piastri is quickest in the middle of the lap.
Verstappen backs out of his first lap and Norris passes by. He’s quicker than Piastri in the first sector.
Verstappen leads Norris, Russell and Hadjar out as Q3 begins.
Q2 is over and the following drivers are eliminated: Nico Hulkenberg, Liam Lawson, Oliver Bearman, Gabriel Bortoleto and Alexander Albon.
Hulkenberg and Bortoleto can’t escape Q2 and that’s the session done.
Antonelli goes fourth, Bearman is eliminated.
Alexander Albon goes 13th and is out. Alonso improves to fifth, Hadjar seventh.
A tentative first sector for Norris but he’s fastest of all in the middle of the lap and crosses the line with a 1’19.861 to go second behind Piastri, two tenths of a second slower. That puts Antonelli in the drop zone.
Norris rejoins the track with just over four minutes left and a fresh set of softs. Piastri is also on new rubber behind him.
Currently in the drop zone: Liam Lawson, Alexander Albon, Gabriel Bortoleto, Charles Leclerc and Lando Norris.
Russell emerges from a cloud of gravel at turn 15 and goes third, just behind Verstappen.
A mistake for Leclerc in turn six spoils this lap for the sole remaining Ferrari driver.
Piastri betas that very comfortably, almost half a second quicker on a 1’19.650. Bad news for Norris though – he goes third and then his lap time is deleted for a track limits infringement at turn 10. That puts him under pressure with seven minutes left in this session.
Verstappen’s car was kicking up a lot of dust or planks smoke through the high-speed turns 12, 13 and 14 as he sets the initial pace with a 1’20.142. He’s just under three tenths of a second ahead of Oliver Bearman.
The Williams drivers head out first as Q2 begins, followed by Verstappen in the sole remaining Red Bull.
The start of Q2 has been delated by a minute so gravel can be cleared from the track.
Esteban Ocon fell to last – he improves to 16th but there’s no relief for Tsunoda as Bortoleto knocks him out!
Franco Colapinto fails to escape Q1, he’s 19th.
Hamilton isn’t, though – he’s out in Q1 again.
Verstappen sets the best time in the first sector but doesn’t improve his overall time. Tsunoda goes 12th which should put him safe.
A great lap by Leclerc gets him up to fifth. But Hamilton can’t improve and stays 13th.
Leclerc is on the cusp of the drop zone in 15th, Hamilton only three places ahead of him. Both are doing another run on new softs.
Currently in the drop zone: Liam Lawson, Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon, Lance Stroll and Franco Colapinto.
Verstappen complaining about his downshifts in the Red Bull. Russell takes third place off him with a 1’20.377.
Verstappen sets a 1’20.534, Norris beats that by almost four tenths of a second with a 1’20.157. Piastri can’t quite match that, he goes second, just under a tenth of a second behind.
Isack Hadjar now fastest ahead of Pierre Gasly so the track is still improving rapidly.
Hamilton goes sixth, a tenth of a second faster than Leclerc.
Piastri and Verstappen also switch to new softs.
Leclerc gets up to fifth, 1’21.018. Norris has fallen to 13th and resorted to a new set of softs.
Charles Leclerc and the Racing Bulls drivers have taken fresh sets of softs.
Red Bull tell Verstappen he’s fastest of those on old tyres but not any more – Piastri and Russell have beaten his time. Nor Norris, though, who’s seven-tenths off the best time in eighth.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli picked up a five second time in the sprint race all for crossing the white line at the entrance to turn 10 and it’s proving a hard habit to crack – he’s just had another time deleted.
Verstappen is almost quicker on old rubber, however, falling just four thousandths of a second shy of Alonso’s time.
Alonso produces a 1’20.980 to lead the times on new softs.
Sainz puts up a 1’22.354 on used softs, Bortoleto beats that by four tenths of a second on fresh rubber.
Q1 has begun. Sauber, Aston Martin, Haas and Alpine running new tyres from the off, others opting for used rubber.
Ferrari have had a horrible weekend so far. Lewis Hamilton went out in the first round again yesterday – will he avoid another early elimination?
Yesterday drivers stood to gain by ensuring they were among the last to set a time in each session. This led some drivers to slow down as they travelled down the pit straight between the Safety Car lines, where they are not governed by the maximum delta time. Carlos Sainz Jnr pushed this as hard as he could and infuriated Charles Leclerc by doing so.
However Gabriel Bortoleto goes into this session knowing his qualifying position will be hit by his five-place grid penalty from the last race.
Qualifying for the sprint race largely decided the result of the sprint race, so this is going to be a vitally important session. Oscar Piastri is looking to repeat his success of 24 hours ago.
Qualifying for the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix is coming up next.
2025 Qatar Grand Prix
- Did Norris repeat his Singapore qualifying tactics to delay Piastri on his final lap?
- Ferrari have “zero performance” in Losail says Leclerc after spinning to 10th
- Piastri snatches vital pole position off Norris with final lap in qualifying
- 2025 Qatar Grand Prix grid
- McLaren concerned tyre problems could “impact the championship” in Qatar GP
