Lando Norris secured pole position in Sprint Qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix. The McLaren driver was quickest in all three segments, in which the regulations state that the Medium compound must be used for the first two sessions and the Soft for the third. His time of 1’21”012 was 2”766 quicker than last year’s pole and close to Hamilton’s 1’20”827 pole lap from 2021, set with a generation of cars and tyres that were theoretically quicker than the current ones.

This is Norris’ third Sprint pole since the format was introduced in 2021, while McLaren are on five. Max Verstappen heads this particular list with nine poles from 18 sessions. On tomorrow afternoon’s grid, Norris will have the Mercedes of George Russell (1’21”075) alongside him while the second row features the second McLaren of Oscar Piastri (1’21”171) ahead of Carlos Sainz (1’21”281) in the Ferrari.

THE DAY ON TRACK
The one and only free practice session saw most of the drivers concentrate on the Medium and the Soft. The exceptions were the Ferrari and Williams drivers, who today opted to use one of their two available sets of Hards. Sainz and Leclerc also scrubbed in two sets of Mediums as well as doing a qualifying simulation on the Soft, while Colapinto and Albon preferred to hold back all three sets of Mediums for the rest of the weekend.

It was windy pretty much all day even if it dropped gradually in strength as the day went on and conditions were rather unusual for this part of the world with temperatures around 20 degrees lower than last year.

SIMONE BERRA – CHIEF ENGINEER
“It was a very interesting day and a surprising one in some ways. The most significant data is the improvement in lap times compared to last year, by a huge amount in FP, slightly less so but still significant in SQ. Running exactly the same tyres as last year and with hardly any changes to the technical regulations, this major drop in lap times can be put down to – apart from the natural performance progression of this generation of cars – mainly to the lower temperatures and also to the improvement of the condition of the track and the fact that, unlike in 2023, for this year’s event, there are support races running on track before the Formula 1 session and that has rubbered-in the track more.

As expected, performance improved very quickly the more laps were completed, both in free practice and in the Sprint Qualifying. So far, the level of graining we have seen is lower than what we might have expected and the performance degradation is very limited. This could push the teams more towards a one-stop strategy and with this in mind, it will be important to check tyre behaviour during tomorrow’s Sprint race, given that today, very few drivers did meaningful long runs with a heavy fuel load. For the “short” race, the Medium seems to be the most plausible option even if, as was already the case in 2023, the Soft cannot be completely ruled out, especially as the C3 has an ideal operating window in temperatures similar to those recorded today.

In terms of the integrity of the tyres, initial analysis has not thrown up any anomalies, confirming that the changes instigated by the FIA relating to the kerbs have had the desired effect. Obviously, it will be important to analyse the data from the Sprint when all the cars will run continuously for the equivalent of one third of Sunday’s race."

Formula 2:
Paul Aron will start from pole position in Sunday’s Feature Race in what will be the FIA Formula 2 Championship’s maiden appearance at the Lusail circuit. Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Estonian driver set a best time of 1’35”115, beating series leader, Brazil’s Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta Racing) second in 1’35”450.

The compounds chosen for this weekend at one of the most severe tracks on the calendar, in terms of the forces exerted on the tyres are the Hard and Medium. All 16 corners are taken at medium or high speeds. The track surface is smooth, having been resurfaced last year, but it is usually very dirty because the wind blows sand onto it. Therefore, it is logical to expect to see lap times tumble rapidly the more the cars run, thus cleaning the racing line. One of the difficulties that could be encountered is graining, which reduces the performance life of the tyres.