Oscar Piastri maintains his perfect weekend by pipping Lando Norris to pole position for the Qatar Grand Prix, while Max Verstappen gets underway in third place
After a brief delay to sweep away some gravel off the track, Q2 is now underway
After qualifying last of all on pace in Vegas , it's hard to believe Lewis Hamilton could be facing an even tougher outing just one week later.
A Q1 exit in both Sprint and GP qualifying is a really humbling experience for the record-breaker - the Briton has had lots of complaints for his car this weekend and this certainly won't improve his mood
16 - Tsunoda
17 - Ocon
18 - Hamilton
19 - Stroll
20 - Colapinto
Big disappointment for Lewis Hamilton as he is dumped out of Q1 yet again in 18th place.
He's not the only high profile name with Tsunoda - who was fifth on the grid in the Sprint - failing to progress in 16th
Tsunoda gets out of the elimination zone, but only just, but Lawson leaps into the top five
Leclerc leaps into the top five, but Hamilton can't improve and is under threat in 13th
Just two minutes to go and we're all go for the drivers to try and avoid the cut.
Norris leads Piastri, incidentally, but attention on the bottom portion of Lawson, Tsunoda, Ocon, Stroll and Colapinto.
Leclerc is on the bubble too
5mins to go and the five drivers in the Q1 drop-zone at this moment are:
- Lawson
- Tsunoda
- Ocon
- Stroll
- Colapinto
8mins to go and it's an all-French 1-2 with Hadjar leading Gasly
Here's a fun fact - Sunday's Qatar Grand Prix will be Lando Norris' 151st race in F1, all of which have been made with McLaren.
By making that start he'll surpass David Coulthard as the most tenured McLaren driver in the team's rich F1 history.
How fitting would it be if he wrapped up the title in the very same race.
Time will tell, but if Max Verstappen at least drops out of contention ahead of Abu Dhabi tomorrow, it will at least confirm we will have the first McLaren F1 champion since Lewis Hamilton in 2008
The first laps are chiming with Alonso setting the standard from Verstappen and Tsunoda
The drivers are lining up down the pit-lane to ensure they get on track and find some space for an early effort.
And first out is Carlos Sainz
We're just moments away from Qatar GP Qualifying as we decide the grid for the penultimate round of this engrossing 2025 F1 season - can Norris continue his run of qualifying results with a fourth straight pole?
The teams will use the data from the Sprint Race to make necessary changes, so there it is no given the results from the session will mirror the form so far this weekend.
Either way, they will need to be mindful of those bumps, gravel-filled run-off zones if the drivers get it wrong on the exit, while the riot act will be read for that troublesome entry into Turn 10 that caught out Tsunoda and Antonelli with five-second penalties for track limits.
A big reset ahead for Ferrari after a torrid Sprint Race that saw both Leclerc and Hamilton well outside the top ten.
Leclerc's race was undone by a lap one wide moment, but then hampered further by a couple of offs onto the gravely kerbs.
Hamilton, meanwhile, always faced an uphill task from the pit-lane but didn't show strong pace at any stage anyway.
Ferrari have a habit of bouncing back for qualifying, but they have a big margin to make up on the competition
Qualifying is always important, but here in Qatar it is particularly crucial.
As the Sprint Race showed, the fast corners and ragged edge exits make it very difficult for the cars to get close to each other to attempt a pass, while there is just a single DRS zone available down the home straight.
It makes overtaking very difficult, as demonstrated by the pockets of space between the cars forming soon after the start earlier on.
This could be good news for Norris if he can make improvements to his McLaren to challenge for pole, but based on the form so far this weekend, Piastri has the edge.
It means Norris is in a good position to potentially wrap up the 2025 F1 title with a round to spare tomorrow, provided he can ensure he leaves Qatar with at least 26 points in hand over Piastri and Verstappen.
It means he needs to beat Piastri on the road by three points and Verstappen by one point.
But as the Sprint Race showed, it is Piastri who appears to be the one to beat coming into the remainder of the weekend
Oscar Piastri returned to winning ways just a few hours earlier with a lights-to-flag victory in the Qatar GP Sprint Race.
With Lando Norris third and Max Verstappen fourth, the title battle evolves once more.
Norris now leads Piastri by 22 points, while Verstappen is 25 points shy of the top spot
Welcome back to Crash.net's live text commentary for the Qatar Grand Prix - now the Sprint Race is done and dusted, we turn our attention to qualifying for Sunday's main event
