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00:00I understand what he was trying to do, he was trying to just go flat through there,
00:02not unsettle the car by lifting off the throttle,
00:04and the best way to do that was to shift up, a little bit less torque,
00:08but it just didn't work out, obviously, with the systems.
00:10Max Verstappen on the track at the moment, two purple sectors,
00:15he crosses the line three tenths up on Lando Norris.
00:19Mentally, that's very, very tough for him,
00:21seeing his teammate achieving what he would be expected to achieve.
00:25Yeah, Hamilton goes fourth fastest,
00:27his teammate George Russell picking up the pace behind him.
00:31Just notice the two Aston Martins of Stroll and Alonso come into the pits
00:35and have completed what they call a hot stop, like it was a race,
00:39and have gone straight back out there again
00:40to get those tyres out of the blankets as late as possible
00:44and to get out onto the track as early as possible
00:46and keep that temperature up.
00:47Two tenths between Russell and Verstappen.
00:49But we're not there yet, we're still in Q1.
00:53Nice lap there.
00:54Yeah, sorry.
00:55Nice lap there for Carlos Sainz.
00:57Yeah, he goes fourth fastest, half a second off the pace.
00:59Sergio Pérez next to cross the line, seventh fastest for him.
01:03Not quite into the 1.21s yet.
01:06Max Verstappen radioing, by the way,
01:08to say he's much happier with the balance of the car,
01:10a little less like a rally car in this session
01:13than he felt in the sprint race a bit earlier.
01:15Here we have Kevin through Turn 3.
01:20Down into Turn 4.
01:23Oh, big snap of oversteer through there at Turn 4.
01:26And that's the problem around here.
01:27Does he need it?
01:29And is that the wisest thing to do?
01:31Not for George.
01:32It would be amazing for Lewis.
01:34You know, he'll always take what he can.
01:36These cars are very draggy and it makes a big difference.
01:38I'm told by Bernie Collins at Sky Race Control,
01:41because she's watching on board,
01:42he did it at the start of this lap.
01:43Oh, dear.
01:44Don't do that very often, Oscar Piastri.
01:46And his teammate, Lando Norris,
01:48going through a couple of corners ahead.
01:50Lando Norris, who is currently on a flyer
01:53and a couple of personal best sectors for him in his McLaren.
01:57He crosses the line.
01:59What's third fastest?
02:00Goes second fastest.
02:01Tenth of a second behind George Russell.
02:031.21.4 should safely see him through
02:06as Colopinso now makes his way towards the final corners.
02:11And down the straight he comes.
02:14Will he get out of Q2?
02:16No, he won't.
02:17He'll stay 19th.
02:18Attention turns to Alex Albon getting a distant tow
02:21and goes 15th.
02:22He is right on the bubble and behind him,
02:25they're queuing up the green sectors to knock him out.
02:27Esteban Ocon stays 20th.
02:30Another poor qualifying for Ocon,
02:31who was out in the first part of sprint qualifying.
02:33Leclerc goes fastest overall with a 1.21.2.
02:38Some 57 thousandths of a second faster than George Russell.
02:41Sergio Perez out in SQ1 for the sprint qualifying
02:45into the top eight.
02:46That's much better for the qualifying for the Grand Prix.
02:49Lawson now towards the final corner
02:51as Alex Albon still at risk.
02:54And only 21 thousandths of a second ahead of this man,
02:57Liam Lawson,
02:58who would like to move into Q2 and doesn't.
03:01Stays 16th fastest.
03:03Sunoda crosses the line.
03:04He does get out for the time being.
03:07Alex Albon is out of qualifying.
03:09Russell continues on his way.
03:11Good middle sector.
03:1227.4.
03:13A bit of oversteer there on the exit.
03:15Got a little bit greedy on the right pedal,
03:18but I don't think it would have cost him any time.
03:20A 1.21.1.
03:21He's a tenth up.
03:22George Russell on his best time from Q1.
03:25Carlos Sainz is four tenths down.
03:27Oscar Piastri about to finish a lap.
03:31He puts himself second fastest in between the Mercedes and the Ferrari.
03:36Aces that final sector.
03:38Charles Leclerc is hoping to do so,
03:40as he's the latest to just dip down to the line.
03:43But a 1.21.4 ahead of his teammate,
03:46but still a couple of tenths off the pace,
03:48which is being set by George Russell.
03:50And his teammate, Lewis Hamilton,
03:51four tenths behind.
03:52Can't get any nearer to his teammates.
03:55Keep their head upright.
03:56It's difficult enough.
03:57But last corner here.
03:59Nice exit.
03:59The rear seems planted to the ground,
04:01doesn't it, on the Red Bull?
04:02Certainly was.
04:03Verstappen crosses the line.
04:05Goes quickest ahead of George Russell.
04:08Sergio Perez goes fourth fastest.
04:11It's a two-pronged Red Bull attack in that top four.
04:13And we've not said that an awful lot during the course of this season.
04:17Perez failing to reach Q3.
04:19Nine times overall in 2024,
04:22as well as in both previous visits to Qatar,
04:24as Lando Norris goes fourth fastest.
04:27You know, Lewis did a reasonably good lap there.
04:29It was only a few tenths off his teammate.
04:31And he's down in P9.
04:33So Sergio Perez has done a 1.21.4.
04:38And that isn't going to help his quest.
04:40That wasn't a push lap either, was it?
04:43Was he distracted?
04:45We haven't seen the onboard,
04:46but I wonder if he was adjusting something on his steering wheel.
04:50Maybe preparing to recharge for the next lap.
04:53Here we go with Fernando.
04:54Bit of understeer, then a big snap of oversteer.
04:57He knew from there it was game over this lap.
04:59I was talking about what Carlos Sainz has been noted by race control.
05:03Out came Lewis Hamilton and out cheekily came Carlos Sainz.
05:07Yeah, it's definitely not...
05:10The driver can't see what's happening there.
05:11It's all about whether he's told to go or not and how he reacts.
05:15Most of the cars that are currently on track are now doing...
05:17They've left this final run early enough to do a first push,
05:21two cool laps and then a final push.
05:24Some others will come out towards the end of this cool lap for others
05:27and just get one single push lap on the tyres.
05:30So here comes Kevin Magnusson.
05:31Brilliant middle sector for him.
05:32He goes sixth fastest, pushes Lewis Hamilton now down into 10th.
05:36Joe Guan Yu.
05:37Oh, it's 11th fastest.
05:39He just misses out with a 1.21.5 by about five hundredths of a second.
05:45Hamilton is safe for the time being.
05:47A stroll can't get himself into that top ten.
05:50Bottas has gone quickest for him in the middle sector.
05:53Charging towards the line now, goes ahead of Tsunoda
05:57and behind his teammate Joe Guan Yu.
05:59Round the final corner comes Alonso now.
06:01Verstappen's going quickest of all.
06:03Alonso into the top ten.
06:05Hamilton needs to charge and push to the line here.
06:09He crosses the line and he goes into fifth,
06:12pushes Pierre Gasly into 11th and Sergio Perez now is 10th.
06:17But he should be safe.
06:18Tsunoda won't be troubling him.
06:20Verstappen crosses the line, goes quickest of all right at the end.
06:24Temperatures drop by half a degree from the temperature in the air
06:30during the course of Q2.
06:34Carlos Sainz for the 1.21.0 crosses the line,
06:37lets George Russell open up a flying lap.
06:40Charles Leclerc goes better than his teammate by about two-tenths of a second.
06:43This is a big lap.
06:45A big lap for George Russell to take him top by three-tenths of a second.
06:50Big margin between George Russell and Charles Leclerc.
06:53What of Oskar Piastri?
06:54He makes his way to the line, only sixth fastest in the McLaren.
06:58Fourth fastest, I should say, 1.21.1
07:02as Lewis Hamilton goes third fastest ahead of Sainz and ahead of Piastri.
07:06That is an epic lap from Russell, the quickest lap we've seen so far.
07:10This is why Lando Norris was a bit down in terms of timing.
07:16That could have been a lot worse for Lando Norris,
07:18who lost half a second at Turn 5.
07:21Yeah, that was big, wasn't it?
07:24I mean, that could have been a lot more session ending for Lando Norris.
07:30Sainz crosses the line, fifth fastest only for Carlos Sainz.
07:34Kevin Magnussen will be next to cross the line.
07:37K-Mag, seventh fastest, and ahead of Perez, Norris and Alonso.
07:41Here comes Charles Leclerc, stays third fastest.
07:45It's between Russell and Verstappen at the moment.
07:47Russell not improving in the middle sector.
07:49Piastri moves up into P3.
07:52Lando Norris will be next to cross the line.
07:55Out of the final corner he comes, and it is only P3 for Lando Norris.
07:59It's no eighth pole of the season for him tonight.
08:02It's Max Verstappen to try and deny him to the line.
08:05The four-time world champion puts his Red Bull on pole
08:08by 55 one thousandths of a second,
08:11while his teammate Sergio Perez, only ninth fastest,
08:15and Lewis Hamilton, last to cross the line,
08:17stays down in sixth fastest.
08:20It is a second pole in 16 races,
08:23and a first since Austria for Max Verstappen,
08:27who, after a disappointing sprint,
08:29can celebrate a pole position for the Qatar Grand Prix tomorrow.
08:34Wow. Did not see that coming.
08:36Did not see that coming. That was really impressive.
08:38That's an excellent turnaround. That's pole position.
08:41Let's go, guys.
08:44Well done for the turnaround.
08:47Yes.
08:48Yabba-dabba-doo, Max.
08:50That is the first official pole since Austria.
08:53Well done. That was a mighty qualifying.
08:55Well done, mate.
08:56Yeah, well done. Well done.
08:58That was really amazing, the turnaround.
09:00Great job, guys.