Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri have started a massive weekend for McLaren on the front foot as they qualified P1 and P3 for the F1 Sprint at the Qatar GP.
The physical nature of the Lusail circuit
All 20 drivers face a massive challenge in Qatar as the track is quite unrelenting with lots of high speed corners.
F1 Sprint Polesitter Lando Norris explained just how difficult it is on the body.
”It’s tough because it’s so quick around here, it feels like the quickest circuit of the year. The final sector just feels like you’re hanging on.
“The wind plays a big part, but the conditions are also a lot better than last season. Makes it a lot tougher physically, but also makes it a lot quicker to drive.
“I’m not, I struggle too, but I think some of the other cars are close to being flat in most of the corners in the final sector. That’s quite an accomplishment.
“It feels quick, and when it feels quick, it must be very fast.”
Dominant qualifying performance
Norris topped SQ1, SQ2 and SQ3 to be P1, although the gap shrank from half a second in the first segment to 0.063s by the end.
Nonetheless, the 25-year-old was understandably pleased, especially after Charles Leclerc dominated the only practice session.
“Great qualifying today, especially to bounce back from where we were last time out in Vegas.
“It’s a nice thing to do, so [I am] happy.
“It was a decent lap, I made too many mistakes on my second.
“We’re coming here to get pole and we did that, so job done for today.
“It’s a challenge out there, not easy to put a lap together, especially because the tyres don’t feel in for the beginning, and then through the lap you gain confidence.
“That’s been the challenge of today, but it’s paid off.
“We made some good improvements into qualifying, and I was happy with it.”
Going for the Sprint win
Heading into tomorrow’s Sprint, McLaren leads the Constructors’ Championship by 24 points over Ferrari. As they start P1 and P3, they can add valuable points to their lead with Sainz and Leclerc P4 and P5 respectively.
The 3-time race winner says his focus is on the Sprint and not worrying about the full race distance. The Sprints are usually seen as a test for the Grand Prix.
“I want to win. We want to win every session as drivers.
“Our target is a 1-2, we want to maximise points for our constructors today. We want to go for it.
“We know it’s going to be a battle, we know Mercedes will be quick, Ferrari will be fast.
“Not expecting an easy one, probably an exciting one for everyone watching.
“Looking forward to tomorrow.”
Piastri recovers
After finishing P8 in SQ1, over 0.8s off teammate Norris, Oscar Piastri got stronger as the sessions went on at the Qatar GP.
The 23-year-old from Melbourne was 3rd quickest in SQ2, 0.317s slower than his British teammate. That came after a scare where he saw his first time in the session deleted for track limits.
SQ3 was his strongest session when they switched to softs, with the 2-time race winner 0.159s off his teammate’s pole lap, although he was pipped to the front row by George Russell.
In fact, Piastri had gone purple in sector 1 on a second push lap but the time fell away as the lap went on.
Getting into the groove
Speaking afterwards, Piastri admitted it took him a while to get into a rhythm in qualifying on Friday evening.
“Reasonably happy.
“It wasn’t the greatest lap of my life, but I think with these conditions it’s very tough. I’m pretty sure everybody will be saying that.
“I struggled a little bit at the start, but I felt like I was in the groove at the end. Just very fine margins, but this track is pretty mega to drive around.
“There’s a lot more grip this year than last year, so the high-speed sections are a lot of fun.”
Fun circuit
Piastri says the changes made to the kerbs to avoid a repeat of 2021 and 2023 has helped the track become fun more fun to drive, as well as explaining how the conditions did not feel much different to practice.
“To be honest, it wasn’t too different to practice.
“The wind has dropped a little bit, makes the car a little bit easier to drive. Everything is a bit easier than it was 12 months ago.
“It feels fine, it’s a really awesome track, especially the high-speed sections, which is pretty much most of the track.
“A lot of fun out there.”
Satisfied Stella
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella also commented on the session, explaining how Piastri’s best corners across his two attempts would have put him on the front row with Norris.
It was a tremendous bounce back after a tough weekend in Las Vegas.
“Yeah, P1-P3, certainly better than what we’ve had in Vegas.
“A little bit of lap time lost by Oscar in his laps. Because effectively, if we look at his best corners, he’s on par with Lando.
“But it was difficult in these conditions with still some winds around to put perfect laps together.
“So, no problem, P1-P3 is good.”
Wary of Mercedes and Ferrari
Despite the positive end to Friday, the Italian is fully aware of the dangers posed by Mercedes and Ferrari, with George Russell qualifying within 0.063s of Norris and beating Piastri in SQ3 at the Qatar GP.
As noted by Stella, his British driver had a solid advantage in SQ1 and SQ2 on mediums.
“The car has been competitive in FP1, here in qualifying session, especially with the medium tyres, which is important for the Sprint race and for the race itself.
“At the same time, we have to acknowledge that Mercedes are within the same tenth of a second. Ferrari are very close.
“So, not unexpected, but it’s certainly not an easy ride. It’s very compact.
“We have to work hard to gain the points tomorrow.”
