It was time for Friday Night Qualifying as it was time for the 20 drivers to set themselves up as well as possible for Sunday’s Grand Prix.
Q1
In Qualifying 1; Logan Sargeant, Lance Stroll, Liam Lawson, Kevin Magnussen, and Zhou Guanyu were the five slowest drivers. Logan performed a bit better in Qualifying, but it still wasn’t enough for him to beat (his) teammate Alex Albon whilst Lance Stroll suffered another Quali shocker, finishing 1.1 seconds behind his teammate. Liam Lawson also suffered his worst performance in Formula 1 as he ended up nearly 6 tenths behind his teammate whilst both Kevin Magnussen and Zhou Guanyu were absolutely nowhere (again). Max Verstappen topped Q1 ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris by just over a tenth of a second.
Q2
In Qualifying 2; Yuki Tsunoda, Carlos Sainz, Sergio Perez, Alex Albon, and Nico Hulkenberg all failed to make it into the Top 10 shootout. Yuki Tsunoda did another good job for Alpha Tauri, but he’ll still be gutted to have missed out on a spot in Q3 by just 4 thousandths of a second whilst Carlos Sainz struggled massively to get a clean lap on the board. Sergio Perez also had yet another shocker as he once again failed to make Q3 whilst Alex Albon qualified in a solid P14 ahead of Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg. Lewis Hamilton ended Q2 at the top of the leaderboard by just over a tenth to Max Verstappen.
Q3
In Qualifying 3; a 1:23.778 was enough for Max Verstappen to take another commanding Pole Position. Considering Max only gets better in the Race, he will most likely walk this weekend (which isn’t very surprising. What was a bit of a surprise however was George Russell pulling out a super lap to Qualify P2 whilst Lewis Hamilton will start third after a mistake on his final run. Fernando Alonso should be delighted with 4th considering Aston Martin’s recent struggles whilst Charles Leclerc could only manage 5th for Ferrari. Oscar Piastri will start Sunday’s Grand Prix from 6th after having his final lap time deleted for track limits (he would’ve been third) whilst the Alpine duo of Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon should be really happy with their efforts. Valtteri Bottas can also be really pleased with qualifying 9th, but the same cannot be said for Lando Norris who failed to get a legal lap time on the board after exceeding track limits on both of his flying laps.
Starting Grid for the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix and My Qualifying Grades
Max Verstappen: 10
George Russell: 10
Lewis Hamilton: 8
Fernando Alonso: 9
Charles Leclerc: 7
Oscar Piastri: 6
Pierre Gasly: 9
Esteban Ocon: 8
Valtteri Bottas: 9
Lando Norris: 3
Yuki Tsunoda: 7
Carlos Sainz: 3
Sergio Perez: 1
Alex Albon: 5
Nico Hulkenberg: 4
Logan Sargeant: 3
Lance Stroll: 1
Liam Lawson: 1
Kevin Magnussen: 1
Zhou Guanyu: 1
My Predictions for the Qatar Sprint Shootout
Max Verstappen
Lando Norris
Sergio Perez
Lewis Hamilton
Oscar Piastri
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