© Vladimir RysQatar Sprint Qualifying Report: Max Starts P6, Checo Out by 0.013sNewly crowned World Champion Max will start Saturday’s Sprint Race in P6, whilst Checo will start in P16 after missing out on SQ2 by just 0.013s behind Alex Albon.
The Bulls were busy in the only practice session of the weekend, with both Max and Checo putting in 26 laps in the opening hour in Qatar.
Both started the session on the medium tyres. For the Qatar Grand Prix, the medium tyre is the C2, with the soft being the C3 and the hard the C1, the hardest tyre in the range.
Max and Checo both put in two push laps on the yellow-ringed tyres. Max’s time of 1:25.612 placing him P1 at that point, Checo’s time was 0.438s slower and placed him P3. Both drivers then dived into the pits for a front wing flap adjustment before heading back on track for one more push lap each. They both improved with Max completing the rotation in 1:23.885, putting him back in P1 and Checo’s turn saw him set a 1:24.995 placing him P5 at that point.
As all cars returned to the pits after the first stint, Charles Leclerc was in P1, Max was in second place and Checo had dropped to P10.
The Champ Is Here© Getty Images
Before the Bulls strapped on the soft tyre, they completed their high-fuel, race-sim runs. Max completed 10 timed laps, with Checo finishing with eight.
With less than 10 minutes remaining both Max and Checo completed one timed lap on the soft tyre. Max’s time was 1:23.213 and put him provisionally P3, 0.971s behind leader Leclerc. Checo’s time saw him in P12, 1.797s behind the leader.
At the chequered flag Leclerc remained in P1 with a time of 1:21.953, Lando Norris was second and Oscar Piastri was third. Max’s time saw him finish the session in P11 and Checo was in P18.
For the first Sprint Shootout session the Bulls headed out straight away on the mandated medium tyres to maximise the 12 minutes of track time. Max’s first run saw him set a 1:23.291, placing him P2 at that point, 0.032s behind Charles Leclerc. Checo’s 1:24.085 saw him in P11. Most drivers stayed out on track and stuck with just one set of tyres for the entire session.
Both Max and Checo improved on their second push laps, with Max stopping the clock at 1:22.580, moving him back up to P3 and Checo’s 1:22.980, saw him in P9.
As they headed into their final run, Max had dropped to P6 and Checo was down in P12.
As the times were tumbling, Max’s final flying lap was a 1:22.033, which was good enough for P4 at that point, 0.677s behind Norris in P1. Checo found himself down in the elimination zone but was improving. He crossed the finish line in 1:22.718, which placed him P13. However, as other drivers took the finish line, he fell to 15th. Alex Albon then outpaced Checo by just 0.013s pushing him into P16 and out of SQ2.
Eliminated behind Checo was Yuki Tsunoda in P17, Esteban Ocon, Zhou Guanyu and at the bottom of the time sheet was Franco Colapinto.
Too Fast To Shoot© Getty Images
Max was straight out onto the circuit for the second Sprint Shootout, on a fresh set of mediums, and set a lap time of 1:22.188, which placed him provisionally top of the timesheet.
On his second run, Max set a time of 1:22.050, which put him P2, behind Oscar Piastri who had set the exact same time as Max. Piastri’s time was deleted, but before Max could stay on top, both the Ferraris of Leclerc and Carlos Sainz had outpaced him.
With time counting down there was a rush for one more push lap. Max’s third lap of SQ2 was a 1:21.784, good enough for P4 and 0.553s off the top spot, which was once again held by Norris. As the chequered flag was being waved, Lewis Hamilton improved knocking Max down to P5, Sainz was behind Max in sixth and Leclerc one place behind that.
Eliminated at the end of SQ2 was Kevin Magnussen in P15, Lance Stroll, Valtteri Bottas, Alex Albon and Fernando Alonso.
Ready To Roll© Getty Images
Max left the garage early on his new set of soft tyres. Max had a build-up lap first to get some heat in the tyres and then opened the throttle for his first run. His time of 1:21.315 saw him P3, with Norris on top once again, 0.303s quicker than Max. After the first runs. Norris was P1, Piastri in second, Russel in third and Max was in P4.
Everyone went to push again, but it seemed that the top two and Max were struggling to improve. After two slower sections, Norris aborted his lap and returned to the pits. Piastri also failed to improve. However, Russell did improve, leapfrogging the Australian into P2.
Max’s second lap was 0.006s slower than his opener and saw him remain in P4. But as the other drivers completed their second laps, he was beaten by both the Ferraris and he had to settle for P6 for tomorrow’s 19-lap sprint race.
The drivers will line up as such tomorrow: Norris on pole, Russell on the front row with his fellow Englishman, Piastri in third, Sainz in P4, the third row will see Leclerc in fifth alongside Max, Hamilton will be in P7 with Pierre Gasly eighth, Liam Lawson P9 and Nico Hulkenberg rounding out the top 10.
HannahSchmitzReflectsonFriday:StrategicInsightsfromthePitWall
