Sprint Qualifying results: Carlos Sainz P4, Charles Leclerc P5 at Lusail Circuit | F1 Qatar GP. Qatar: results and report from the Sprint Qualifying session .

The Sprint Qualifying comes to life on the Doha circuit: during SQ1, the drivers try to set their first laps with medium tires, with Lando Norris setting the fastest time at 1:22:785, followed by George Russell by a mere thousandth of a second; Charles Leclerc is fourth and Carlos Sainz seventh. However, in the next lap, the Spaniard manages to significantly improve his performance, moving to first place, which then becomes second after Leclerc surpasses him to take the lead.

Thanks to the improving track conditions, all the drivers improve their times, creating chaos in the timing table, which is constantly changing. At the end of SQ1, Norris is at the top, followed by Sainz, who is four-tenths behind; then come Russell and Verstappen. Charles Leclerc is sixth. The drivers eliminated are: Sergio Perez, Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon, Zhou, and Colapinto.

During SQ2, Verstappen is the first to set a fast lap, taking the top spot, which is immediately taken by Leclerc, who beats him by fifty-eight thousandths of a second; Norris is second. As for the two Mercedes drivers, their first times are only enough for twelfth for Russell and thirteenth for Lewis Hamilton. But, just like in SQ1, the performance of all drivers improves. The fastest at the end of the session is once again Norris, followed by George Russell and Oscar Piastri; Carlos Sainz is sixth, and Charles Leclerc seventh. The drivers eliminated are: Alonso, Albon, Bottas, Stroll, and Magnussen.

In the final part of the session, it’s time for soft tire laps, where Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri immediately make the difference, taking first and second positions; Russell follows. The two Ferrari drivers, possibly facing issues with their tire compounds, set a second flying lap just seconds before the checkered flag: Carlos Sainz takes fourth, and Charles Leclerc takes fifth. Lando Norris claims the pole position for Sprint Qualifying, followed by George Russell and Oscar Piastri.

Pos	Num	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3	Diff
1	4	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:21.356	1:21.231	1:21.012
2	63	George Russell	Mercedes	1:22.021	1:21.488	1:21.075	0.063
3	81	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:22.218	1:21.548	1:21.171	0.159
4	55	Carlos Sainz	Ferrari	1:21.838	1:21.809	1:21.281	0.269
5	16	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:22.156	1:21.818	1:21.308	0.296
6	1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	1:22.033	1:21.784	1:21.315	0.303
7	44	Lewis Hamilton	Mercedes	1:22.151	1:21.734	1:21.474	0.462
8	10	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1:22.586	1:22.352	1:21.978	0.966
9	30	Liam Lawson	RB	1:22.705	1:22.393	1:22.082	1.070
10	27	Nico Hulkenberg	Haas	1:22.569	1:22.318	1:22.088	1.076
11	14	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:22.499	1:22.433
12	23	Alex Albon	Williams	1:22.705	1:22.526
13	77	Valtteri Bottas	Sauber	1:22.506	1:22.538
14	18	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	1:22.522	1:22.599
15	20	Kevin Magnussen	Haas	1:22.560	1:22.738
16	11	Sergio Perez	Red Bull Racing	1:22.718
17	22	Yuki Tsunoda	RB	1:22.722
18	31	Esteban Ocon	Alpine	1:22.906
19	24	Zhou Guanyu	Sauber	1:22.948
20	43	Franco Colapinto	Williams	1:23.423