Qatar Grand Prix Saturday: Teams & Drivers report from Lusail

Piastri delivered a perfect performance, winning the Sprint and then taking pole for the Grand Prix as Lando Norris will rue a mistake in Q3 while Max Verstappen maximized his potential with third in qualifying after a damage-limitation drive in the Sprint to fourth.

It was a disastrous day for Ferrari while Mercedes were in the mix.

Here is what the Formula 1 teams had to say.

George Russell: "We can be pleased to be starting P4 tomorrow; it's a good place to be on the grid and gives us a solid opportunity to score strong points in our battle for P2 in the Constructors' Championship. Obviously, being so close to P3 with such a small margin of just one hundredth between us and Verstappen is annoying, but the field is so close right now. Both McLarens were fast throughout and did an impressive job so I think P3 was the maximum we could have hoped for. Overall, we did a good job as a team with Kimi in P5, and we will be looking to secure P2 in the standings tomorrow.

"Tomorrow's race will be interesting with the tyre stint limit making it a mandatory two-stop race. The car balance has felt good this weekend so I'm hopeful that we can be in the race for the podium. We are looking forward and let's see what the points situation is once the chequered flag falls."

Kimi Antonelli: "I am not fully satisfied with P5 today as I know we had a little bit more pace to show. That said, it is still a solid place to be starting tomorrow's race from and gives us a good chance of banking a decent number of points.

"My final lap in qualifying wasn't perfect. I had a strong second sector but struggled more than the rest of the weekend to hook up the first sector. I lost the rear a little bit at turn one and that caused me to lose some momentum. That always makes it a little more difficult to recover the lost time through the rest of the lap. That was disappointing, however, we improved our performance considerably compared to yesterday's sessions and I am sure we will be able to maximise the potential of the car tomorrow. Strategically, it should be a straightforward two-stop. The start, just like it did in today's Sprint, is likely going to play a huge role in the outcome of the race, so that is where I need to gain as many positions as possible."

Toto Wolff, Team Principal & CEO: "That was a solid, if not spectacular, Saturday in Qatar. Coming into the weekend, our focus has been on continuing to score good points as we try to secure P2 in the Constructors' Championship ahead of the final race of the season. P2 with George in the Sprint plus Kimi bringing home a further three points has helped us extend our advantage slightly. A decent qualifying session, with the cars in P4 and P5, gives us a good opportunity to seal our place in the standings on Sunday.

"We aren't getting ahead of ourselves though. The field is incredibly competitive with just one tenth of a second the difference between multiple places in qualifying today. We also saw how difficult it was to overtake in the Sprint so making sure we're in a strong position after lap one tomorrow will be key. McLaren are clearly the reference this weekend, but we are within striking distance. It will be interesting to see how the strategy plays out with the mandatory stint lengths too. We will race hard, be looking to challenge for the podium, and hopefully do the job we need to in order to close out P2."

Sprint Race: Lewis started from the pit lane following some set-up changes on his car made under Parc Fermé regulations. All drivers opted for the Medium tyres, the best choice for a 19 lap race.

Charles didn’t get a good start from ninth on the grid. He dropped down to 13th place on the opening lap, battling with oversteer. Unable to make up any ground he eventually finished in that same position.

Lewis crossed the finish line in 17th place, having struggled throughout the Sprint.

Q1: After the Sprint race the team worked on the cars’ set-up to improve it for qualifying. Charles and Lewis each went for three runs – two on new Soft tyres - but while the Monegasque was eighth fastest to make the cut to Q2, the Englishman encountered traffic on his final attempt and had to settle for 18th place on the grid.

Q2: Charles once again used two new sets, setting the ninth fastest time to get through to the final phase.

Q3: In the last session Charles had no new Softs left and therefore ran two used sets. Pushing the car to its limit on his first attempt, Charles spun at turn 15, luckily with no consequences. He will start from 10th on the grid tomorrow.

Charles Leclerc: "We gave it our all. This weekend has been very tough so far. We just don’t have the pace needed in the car on this type of track and were struggling to put in good laps in qualifying.

"We can’t hide our disappointment. I don’t have big expectations for tomorrow, but I’ll try to reset and will do my best as always to bring home a good result for the team."

Lewis Hamilton: "P18 is a disappointing result and doesn’t reflect the hard work the team has put in over the last two days.

"Clearly this track doesn’t seem to suit our car and we’re still working to identify a set-up that meets its needs.

"We’ll keep pushing, analyse the data tonight, and look for every opportunity to put ourselves back in the points tomorrow."

Isack Hadjar: "We had a pretty good Saturday and I'm happy with the performance we showed. This afternoon in the Sprint I had an awesome first lap, and if I hadn't lost the position during a battle with Kimi and Carlos, then I would have probably been able to score a point. Later in Qualifying, I think we really extracted the maximum from the car as we couldn't have finished higher up in the standings; P6 was really our best today. I felt the car was easy to drive and I reached the limit pretty quickly in the session, then from there I just made tiny steps lap by lap. Looking at tomorrow, it's going to be important to have a good start even if we start from the wrong side of the grid. I expect it to be a full push race and the target is to score points."

Liam Lawson: "The car has been very sensitive this weekend but it felt in a much better window compared to yesterday, meaning we ended Q1 in a good place. Unfortunately, very small changes make the car feel tricky to drive, so we barely improved in Q2. It's frustrating, but a step up from yesterday given our race pace was very good when the balance was there. We'll come together to make improvements ahead of the race tomorrow."

Tim Goss, Chief Technical Officer: "A really good day for VCARB today in Qatar. Both drivers had good starts, good opening laps and gained places in the Sprint. Isack was briefly ahead of Sainz and into a points scoring position, but slipped back after attempting an overtake on Antonelli. He made up two places from his starting position and finished 9th. Liam had a great opening lap and settled in just behind Leclerc, gaining a total of three places to finish 14th. Overall we were pleased to make places and to show our car's race pace which was strong ahead of tomorrow. Qualifying was an exciting session. We knew both drivers had more to deliver than Sprint Qualifying and we proved it. Both drivers progressed through Q1 comfortably and retained new tyre sets for the later sessions. Q2 was extremely tight, and Liam just missed the cut into Q3. Isack progressed and ultimately delivered two fantastic laps to qualify an impressive 6th. Both drivers are well placed against our main competitors in the Constructor's Championship and we look forwards to bagging some vital points in the race tomorrow."

Carlos Sainz: "Another good session and happy with P7. We took another step in the right direction and I think I extracted the maximum out of the car today. In Q3, the sticker on the floor of the garage stuck to my wheel and caused damage to the bodywork as it unravelled, but despite this I still managed to do a solid lap on the last attempt and secure a good starting position for tomorrow.

"We expect a good battle in the midfield and with two mandatory pit stops we are up for some interesting strategies. I’m confident we can execute a good race and hopefully bring more points for the team. Let’s race!"

Alex Albon: "We made some balance and setup changes after the Sprint and the car felt better in qualifying which is a positive takeaway. Ultimately, we just didn’t have the grip today; I was sliding around a bit and struggled to get the tyres in the right window in Q2. We found that we had decent grip with used sets in Q1, so we’ll review the operating windows and our out laps to better understand performance. Overtaking was difficult on this track in the Sprint, with it being a quiet race with not much action from my side. As a team this track wasn’t expected to suit us, but I’m optimistic for tomorrow and we’ll see what we can do during the race to make up some positions."

James Vowles, Team Principal: "If anyone had said before the weekend that we'd be fighting in Q3 and qualifying in the top seven, we would have taken it. Well done to Carlos, brilliant execution, and well done to the team. It was really tricky getting the tyres into the right window today, but P7 was a brilliant result. It puts Carlos on the clean side of the grid and bodes well for tomorrow's race. In the case of Alex, it was just on a knife edge with everyone getting the tyres working, and we just couldn't get into the right window. He had snaps in turn one every time and couldn't show his performance today. We'll regroup overnight and review how we can create the best opportunities for him in the race tomorrow. He's still quick, it's just about maximising the opportunities."

Ollie Bearman: "The Sprint was quite uneventful – the race was difficult with the balance that I had. I was struggling quite a lot, and that was getting worse as I went on, so for the last few laps I was really hanging on. We've learned a lot from this race, so we get to fix things for the race tomorrow. Yesterday, we were very uncompetitive in high-speed, so that's really what we need to fix. We made a big step with the car for qualifying, which is positive, I had a much better feeling than I did this time yesterday. Unfortunately, in Q2 I think we chose the wrong approach, I went for two laps at the end, where in hindsight I think the peak of the tire was in that first lap, but I was carrying the extra fuel of the run plan I was doing, so it's fine margins. I'm going to remain open-minded and positive, we made a big step with the car, so I'll look forward to tomorrow."

Esteban Ocon: "It was a difficult Sprint race. The start was good, but after that, we picked up a lot of degradation and we couldn't really keep up with the car in front, and being in traffic didn't help. We tried to push things to the extreme in terms of set-up for qualifying, we really gave it our best go. It's something we've never done as much to fix it, but we still have the underlying issue where we can't put more front wing into the car, it's still very loose on entry, and I still struggle to brake. I hope there's going to be high degradation in the race, and if that's the case, we can come back through the field and benefit from others, but at the moment, that's our only hope."

Ayao Komatsu, Team Principal: "In the Sprint, limitations were actually quite different from what we anticipated from yesterday's Sprint Quali. It also gave us a good indication on what we needed to do for our qualifying set-up. Some areas were better, but there are other problems we still couldn't solve, hence we're still losing lap time in high-speed. It's a shame to miss out on Q3 with Ollie, I don't think we got the finer details right with tire usage on Q2. When the field is so tight, we have to get everything right. Tomorrow, we need to see how we make use of our pace, which I think is better than our qualifying position, but it won't be easy."

Fernando Alonso: "I was quite surprised we were able to fight for Q3 again tonight and I'm happy with P8. We only had four sets of new Softs in Qualifying, so we opted to use them in Q1 and Q2 and it meant we were left with used tyres at the end in Q3. We scored two points earlier in the Sprint, but I think it will be more difficult for us tomorrow as the tyre degradation is quite high. Every point is crucial at the moment for the Constructors', so we will give it our all."

Lance Stroll: "A frustrating day today qualifying in P19. I feel like I'm on the limit with the grip that I have and can't find any more pace. I felt pretty good in the car, but the lap time is just not coming together for me here and I didn't manage to go any quicker than that. It will be tricky tomorrow to fight back any positions as it's hard to overtake at this track, but we'll see what chances we get."

Mike Krack, Chief Trackside Officer: "It was good to score a couple of points in the Sprint earlier today with Fernando in P7 – an important result as we close out the season. Fernando carried this momentum into Qualifying ending the session in P8. He enjoys this track and the car has been more competitive here. Lance delivered clean laps but was not able to progress into Q2. Let's see what happens tomorrow. It's usually a track position race – with everybody mandated to stop twice – but we will be ready to capitalise on any opportunity."

Pierre Gasly: "I am very happy to be in Q3 for the tenth time this season. The team did a very good job today to make changes to the car, which felt a lot better and I was much more confident behind the wheel. We used the Sprint as a mini Practice session to try and understand a few things and make the necessary changes. The car felt much nicer to drive in Qualifying and we were able to put in a lot of good laps. After yesterday, I certainly did not think Q3 would be possible, so it just goes to show everyone's hard work and motivation within the team to find the right improvements. We will take the positives when we can and now we look forward to tomorrow's race. It is a mandatory two-stop for everyone with the limit on laps per tyre set. We saw today in the Sprint how hard it is to overtake here. We will need a good start, really fight for it, and hopefully we will be in the top ten at the end."

Franco Colapinto: "It was not the best day on my side of the garage, particularly with how I drove today and my own performance. We made some positive improvements with the car between sessions, and it was just poor execution from my side. There was definitely more in the car and we didn't make the most of it today. For the Sprint, we decided to make some changes to the set up and used the session as a test. It was good to learn a few things and make some positive changes. The car immediately felt better on the first lap in Q1 but unfortunately, I ran wide into the gravel on the exit of Turn 15. I also made a mistake on my second push lap again running into the gravel on the exit kerb. Then we put everything on the final lap and we didn't do enough to progress. Overall, it was a messy session and one we take on the chin and quickly move on from."

Steve Nielsen, Managing Director: "It has been an interesting past 24 hours where we have been able to completely transform our prospects for this race weekend courtesy of a lot of hard work and good decision making within the team. We decided to compromise our Sprint Race by changing the set up on both cars, meaning a Pit Lane start, in order to find improvements ahead of Qualifying, which clearly has worked. On Franco's side, while the car felt better, he probably knows he left some lap time on the table and we will continue to work with him in order to do a better job next time. Pierre has put himself in a great position for tomorrow's race where he will start in ninth place. He was really dialled in and put in some fantastic laps. We know we have the 25-lap limit per tyre set tomorrow so it will be interesting to see what teams decide to do on strategy and we will do our best to put ourselves in a competitive position to score points."

Nico Hulkenberg: "It was a clean qualifying session for us: I’m relatively happy with the laps and the effort we put in, although it’s frustrating to miss out on Q3 for just three thousandths of a second. The margins were incredibly fine and that time was probably out there somewhere. Still, we are on the edge of the top ten and we have an extra set of soft tyres for tomorrow’s race: we’ve seen this morning, in the Sprint, how difficult overtaking can be, but we are competitive and we’re around cars we can fight.”

Gabriel Bortoleto: “The Sprint went quite okay for us. I gained two positions at the start, had a solid launch, and the pace felt decent, so I was pretty satisfied with that. Qualifying was a bit more challenging: I pushed a little too hard, ran slightly wide, and that was enough to cost me the lap. The rest of it wasn’t too bad, but it definitely wasn’t ideal. Tomorrow I’ll be starting P19 with the penalty from Las Vegas, so it won’t be an easy job. It’s a long race though, and we’ll take what we learned today and try to move forward up the grid.”

Jonathan Wheatley, Team Principal: “While today’s Sprint was rather uneventful for us, seeing Gabi finishing in P11 after making up two positions at the start, and Nico in P16, Qualifying was much more positive. I was particularly pleased with how the pitwall executed throughout the session, placing the cars in the right windows in traffic and managing the run plans cleanly. We had an encouraging start with both cars moving comfortably into Q2. Nico delivered very clean laps and missed out on Q3 by only 0.003 seconds, finishing P11. Gabi didn’t quite manage to perfectly execute his laps, and with the five-place grid penalty he carries from Las Vegas, he will start the race from P19.

“There is still everything to play for tomorrow. We need to finish ahead of our main competitors in what is a very tight battle in the Constructors’ Championship, and with limitations on tyre life, it might be an interesting race.”