The Qatar Grand Prix program continued with the sprint qualifying session, where few new features were seen: Lando Norris achieved an impressive pole position in the sprint qualifying session!
During SQ1, at the end of the first timed laps, Lando Norris and George Russell, followed by the Scuderia Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc, swapped the lead. After the final fast laps of the stage, Norris's advantage remained intact, allowing him to finish first, while among those eliminated - for the first name, we can already say it without a shadow of a doubt, it's no surprise - Sergio Perez, Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon, Guanyu Zhou and Franco Colapinto were eliminated.
After the first attempts in SQ2, the previous trend continued, with McLaren making a strong showing. The difference was that this time, Oscar Piastri was in the lead, just ahead of Leclerc and Norris. Ultimately, this dominant role was maintained, with only George Russell able to disrupt the race, thus forming the trio of Norris, Russell, and Piastri. Liam Lawson, Fernando Alonso, Alexander Albon, Valtteri Bottas, and Lance Stroll did not have a follow-up, so they were able to begin preparing for Saturday's main program.
In SQ3, there weren't many unanswered questions: Lando Norris and McLaren quickly completed this stage of the weekend, easily taking pole position ahead of George Russell and Oscar Piastri.
