F1 Qatar Grand Prix Results Today: Verstappen takes BRILLIANT pole as title battle shifts

Max Verstappen stole a shock pole position with a brilliant turnaround at the Qatar Grand Prix, having taken just one point from the sprint race earlier in the day.

Meanwhile, Las Vegas Grand Prix winner George Russell put his Mercedes alongside the four-time champion's Red Bull on the front row for Sunday's feature race.

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Surprisingly, neither of the teams vying for the constructors' championship could land even a single car on the front row. McLaren stole a march on Ferrari though, qualifying third and fourth with Ferrari down in fifth and seventh.

McLaren need to leave this weekend having put 21 or more points into the Scuderia in both the race and sprint to seal the title (and also avoid being beaten by nine points by Red Bull) with a race to go.

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F1 Qualifying Results: Qatar Grand Prix 2024

1. Max Verstappen [Red Bull] - 1:20.520sec
2. George Russell [Mercedes] - +0.055s
3. Lando Norris [McLaren] - +0.252s
4. Oscar Piastri [McLaren] - +0.309s
5. Charles Leclerc [Ferrari] - +0.332s
6. Lewis Hamilton [Mercedes] - +0.491s
7. Carlos Sainz [Ferrari] - +0.521s
8. Fernando Alonso [Aston Martin] - +0.731s
9. Sergio Perez [Red Bull] - +0.905s
10. Kevin Magnussen [Haas] - +0.980s

ELIMINATED IN Q2

11. Pierre Gasly [Alpine]
12. Zhou Guanyu [Kick Sauber]
13. Valtteri Bottas [Kick Sauber]
14. Yuki Tsunoda [VCARB]
15. Lance Stroll [Aston Martin]

ELIMINATED IN Q1

16. Alex Albon [Williams]
17. Liam Lawson [VCARB]
18. Nico Hulkenberg [Haas]
19. Franco Colapinto [Williams]
20. Esteban Ocon [Alpine]

How does F1 Qualifying work?

The qualifying session is split into three finite windows, which provide a dramatic prelude to Sunday's race.

The bottom five drivers are eliminated at the end of Q1, with a further five eliminated after Q2.

Then, Q3 gives us a shootout between the remaining 10 drivers in the battle for positions at the front of the grid.

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