Saturday 20th November 2021
Update
Red Bull fails in qualifying
Hamilton doesn’t give Verstappen a chance
Pole position at the Formula 1 premiere in Qatar goes to Lewis Hamilton. The Mercedes driver dominates qualifying, Max Verstappen clearly falls behind. Mick Schumacher has long been a spectator, but wins the Haas duel by a huge margin.
Lewis Hamilton has secured the best possible starting position for the third from last race of the Formula 1 season. The Mercedes driver drives in qualifying for the Grand Prix of Qatar (Sunday, 3 p.m. / Sky and in the live ticker at ntv.de) the fastest time and starts from pole for the 102nd time in his career. In 1: 20.827 minutes, Hamilton sets the fastest lap in the final section and leaves the competition well behind.
World Cup rival Max Verstappen in the Red Bull also improved in the last lap, but in the end he still lacks 0.455 seconds, it is a clear defeat. “It was another difficult qualifying, we lacked the speed, I wish it had been more possible,” says Verstappen, “but second place is a good starting position.” There are many indications that Hamilton can further reduce his 14-point deficit in the drivers’ standings in the race. Valtteri Bottas in the second Mercedes (+0.651) starts from third place in Qatar, which is controversial because of its questionable human rights situation.
“The last one was a wonderful lap. The track is incredibly fast, it felt really good,” said Hamilton after parking his Mercedes on the number 1 sign. The fact that he is so far ahead of his car comes as a surprise to him too. In practice, Valtteri Bottas looked like the fastest driver. “I don’t really know what happened overnight and I can’t explain it to myself,” said the Finn.
The final of the qualification is affected by the destroyed right front tire of Pierre Gasly. The Alpha Tauri driver had previously set the fourth fastest time, 0.813 seconds behind Hamilton. On his last lap, however, he destroyed the front wing in the last sector on the curb, which then slashed the tire. The Frenchman still rolls onto the start-finish straight in his damaged car, but also leaves an ideal line that is soiled with vehicle parts. That probably also prevents Sebastian Vettel from getting beyond tenth place. The qualification for Q3 is a success for the four-time world champion in the Aston Martin, the gap of 1.958 seconds on Hamilton rather less.
Vettel makes it in Q3, not a big name
The top ten behind Hamilton, Verstappen, Bottas and Gasly complete the surprisingly strong Fernando Alonso (Alpine / + 0.843) and Lando Norris (McLaren / + 0.904), who still remain within a second of pole time, as well as Carlos Sainz (Ferrari / +1.013), Yuki Tsunoda (Alpha Tauri / + 1.054) and Esteban Ocon (Alpine / + 1.201). Then Vettel follows in tenth place – and completes the first five rows in which a big name is missing.
Because surprisingly Sergio Perez is already a spectator when it comes to the best starting positions. In Q2, the Mexican is initially unable to cope with the yellow medium tire on which Hamilton, Bottas and Verstappen sovereignly qualified for the top ten times of the day. Red Bull puts the noble helper Verstappens in the fight for the world title on the red softs, as one of the last, Perez goes on a fast lap with it. Like Vettel a few seconds before him, the Red Bull driver also improves on a new set of the softest tire compound. But while the German makes the leap into the top ten, 11 lights up next to the abbreviation “PER”. There he has a free choice of tires, but also a few cars to support his Dutch team-mate.
As usual, Mick Schumacher’s qualifying is over after the first section. In 1: 23.407 minutes he is missing around five and a half tenths to reach Q2. That sounds closer than it is in reality, the Haas driver’s gap is greater than that of George Russell – 15th in Q1 – on Sergio Perez, who was fifth in the first section. After all, Schumacher outclasses his team-mate Nikita Mazepin one more time. He had missed large parts of the training units due to repair work on his car and couldn’t find a rhythm in qualifying either. He is 2.45 seconds behind Schumacher.