This session has finished. No further updates will be posted.
Sprint race qualifying at the 2024 Qatar Grand Prix is coming up next
As usual drivers will have to run the medium tyre compound in the first two phases of this session and the soft in the final phase. Ferrari avoided the mediums in the opening practice session while Gasly, who qualified third in Las Vegas, did not run the softs.
Drivers start heading out as soon as the 12-minute SQ1 session begins. Kevin Magnussen and Lance Stroll join the track first, followed by the Saubers, Ferraris, Williams and Max Verstappen.
Magnussen puts up a 1’23.750, Stroll goes two-tenths slower, Bottas Valtteri Bottas beats him however with a 1’23.407 – which is a tenth of a second faster than Sainz manages.
The final drivers to join the track are the Mercedes pair followed by Fernando Alonso. Charles Leclerc jumps to the top of the times with a 1’23.259, Verstappen falls shy by just 0.032s.
A strong lap from Lando Norris puts the McLaren on top with a 1’22.785, 0.474s up on Leclerc. Oscar Piastri goes sixth in the other McLaren. Sergio Perez falls into the drop zone in 16th place.
Carlos Sainz Jnr takes the top time off Norris with half a second – then Leclerc takes a tenth off that to make it a Ferrari one-two. Four minutes left.
Perez is improving in the first two sectors as he bids to avoid another round one elimination.
The second Red Bull goes up to ninth place – will that be enough for Perez to stay safe? Three minutes left.
Piastri and Hamilton improve which leaves Alonso, Tsunoda, Zhou, Hulkenberg and Colapinto in the drop zone.
Norris does a 1’22.021 to go top and mGeorge Russell matches that to within a thousandth of a second. Russell, of course, took pole position for the Canadian Grand Prix after setting the same time as Verstappen.
Another improvement for Norris leaves him on a 1’21.356. Perez is down to 15th as the chequered flag flies.
Perez goes 13th but it immediately becomes 15th – he’s in big danger.
Perez is out in the first round again! Alexander Albon knocks him out.
SQ1 is over and the following drivers are eliminated: Sergio Perez, Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon, Zhou Guanyu and Franco Colapinto.
SQ2 is live and the sole remaining Red Bull is among the first cars onto the track, along with the Ferrari drivers and others.
Verstappen puts up a 1’22.188, Leclerc beats it by five hundredths of a second, but it’s well shy of the pace Norris had in the last…
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