© Getty ImagesMax’s Pole Position Revoked After Grid Penalty - ReportMax lost the Qatar GP pole after a penalty for slow driving in qualifying, dropping to P2 and giving Russell P1. A blow after a strong RB20 recovery following his Sprint struggles.
MaxlostoutonhisfirstpolepositionsincetheAustrianGrandPrix,afterbeinghitwithaone-placegridpenaltyandapenaltypointfor“drivingunnecessarilyslowlyonacooldownlap”inanincidentinvolvingMercedes’GeorgeRussellduringthetop-10shootoutinqualifyingfortheQatarGrandPrix.Russellwillnowtakepolepositionfortherace.
In the final runs of Q3, the Dutchman powered through to beat Russell and McLaren’s Lando Norris to top spot on the grid. However, in the wake of the session Max was called before the Stewards who wanted to investigate an incident ahead of the final push laps when Russell, preparing for a push lap, had to steer clear of Max who was on a cool down lap.
And after almost three hours of deliberation the Stewards ruled that Max had been driving “well outside the delta” and “unnecessarily slowly”. They handed the four-time champion a one-place penalty, which drops him to the dirty side of the grid and gave him a single penalty point.
The verdict was a bitter blow after the team had in Max’s words worked “a miracle” turnaround to improve his RB20 after a disappointing Sprint in which he finished eighth. He will now start the race from P2, while Checo, who also enjoyed a solid qualifying, will line up in P9 on the grid.
Starting from sixth, but on the dirty side of the Lusail grid, the four-time champion got away badly and was swiftly passed by Lewis Hamilton.
Attempting to recover, Max went to the outside of Turn 1 but was badly baulked by both Ferraris and after then suffering a snap of oversteer in Turn 2, the Dutchman lost ground to both Nico Hülkenberg and Pierre Gasly.
That put him in P9 and though he did manage to get past Gasly, powering past the Frenchman into Turn 1 on lap 8, poor handling meant he couldn’t reel in Hülkenberg and in the closing stages the Dutchman eased off to take home a single point.
For Checo, the Sprint was an exercise in learning. After he suffered handling issues in Sprint Qualifying, the team made some set adjustments to his car under parc fermé and thus Checo started the Sprint from the pit lane. Over the 19 laps he continued to refine the handling and pitted for a new nose and front wing midway through the Sprint. He ended the session in 20th place.
Making Moves© Getty Images
It was Max who set the early pace in Q1 with the Dutchman stopping the clock at 1:21.713, just over three tenths of a second clear of the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. However, as the four-time champion headed back to the pits, George Russell posted a lap of 1:21.519. Norris then improved on his second run to close to within six hundredths of a second of Russell as Fernando Alonso went third fastest, a tenth ahead of Max.
Checo’s first flying laps peaked with a time of 1:22.257 and that left him in tenth place a little under four hundredths of a second off Lewis Hamilton and 0.018s ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc as less than a second separated P1 from P17.
With three minutes remaining Max, who had dropped towards the lower reaches of the top 10, hauled his way back to fourth place with a lap of 1:21.579, though the Dutchman was hampered by a swarm of traffic across his lap.
Behind him on track, Russell put in a pair of quicker laps to take top spot on a time of 1:21.241, 0.03s clear of Leclerc, with Sainz third ahead of Norris, Max and Alonso. Checo, meanwhile, put in a good final flyer to safely make his way through to the next phase with a time of 1:21.675 that left him in P8 behind Hamilton.
In the final seconds VCARB’s Yuki Tsunoda hauled himself out of the drop zone to take P15 just 0.026s ahead of Williams’ Alex Albon, who was eliminated ahead of the second VCARB of Liam Lawson, Haas’ Nico Hülkenberg, Williams’ Franco Colapinto and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.
Max On The Charge© Getty Images
In the opening runs of Q2, Max again led the way as he posted a lap of 1:21.085 to go 0.076s clear of Russell and three tenths ahead of the McLarens. Checo’s opening run netted him a good 1:21.425 and fourth place ahead of Gasly and the Ferraris of Leclerc and Sainz.
Russell was out on track early for his second run and the Mercedes’ driver’s first flyer on his new set of tyres put him 0.001s ahead of Max.
The Dutchman was embarking on another flyer though and when he crossed the line, he edged three hundredths of a second clear of the Mercedes driver to take P1. Norris, though, was going quicker and thanks to a purple first sector the McLaren driver took top spot by the narrow margin of 0.066s.
There were final runs to come, however, and this time there was no stopping Max. The Dutchman blazed through three purple sectors to jump almost three tenths of a second clear of Norris who did not improve.
Checo also missed out on an improvement on his final run, but while the final moments were nervous as Alonso and Hamilton made big gains, the Minister eventually breathed a sigh of relief when his slide down the order halted at P10.
That meant that Gasly was the first driver eliminated, and the Alpine driver exited in P11 ahead of Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas, VCARB’s Yuki Tsunoda and the second Aston Martin of Lance Stroll.
Busy Back At Garage© Getty Images
Max left the garage late in the opening runs of Q3, but though the Dutchman posted another purple sector, this time across the first third of the circuit, his opening run flyer of 1:20.620 left him 0.045s behind Russell who took provisional pole with a lap of 1:20.575. Checo, on used Soft tyres, put in a solid lap of 1:21.724 to take P8, largely thanks to Alonso having his lap deleted and Norris dipping a wheel into the gravel in Turn 5, an error that forced him to abandon his first run.
That left the fight for pole wide open and for the first time in 12 race weekends, Max stormed through to take pole position. The Dutchman again left it late and when Norris could only claim third and Russell failed to find an improvement, Max powered through to P1 with a lap of 1:20.520, 0.055s ahead of Russell.
Behind Norris, fourth place went to Piastri with Leclerc in fifth ahead of Hamilton, Sainz and Alonso. Checo’s sole run on new Softs saw him match his Q2 best and the Mexican will start the Qatar Grand Prix in ninth place ahead of Haas’ Kevin Magnussen.
“Honestly, I didn't expect that,” Max said. “But well done to the team to give me a car that feels a bit more connected. And once the car is a bit more together, you can push harder and it felt a lot better out there in qualifying for me.”
Disappointingly, though, Max’s ninth pole of the season wasn’t to be.
