Winners and losers from sprint qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix

Sprint qualifying is done and it is McLaren who landed the first punch in their fight with Ferrari for the Constructors’ title.

Lando Norris took pole with team-mate Oscar Piastri in third while George Russell continued his good form to qualify second.

Winners and losers from sprint qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix

Winners

McLaren

Advantage McLaren. The fight for the Constructors’ title is the focus this weekend and it is the Woking side who have got their noses ahead.

After Charles Leclerc topped FP1, it looked like Ferrari had the edge this weekend but McLaren came alive in quali, especially with Lando Norris.

Having topped SQ1 and SQ2, Norris looked the favourite for pole and he duly delivered with a time of 1:21.012, 0.063 ahead of P2 Russell.

A good start will be needed on Saturday but McLaren look set to get closer to that Constructors’ title.

George Russell

This kind of purple patch looked a long way off at the start of the year but Russell and Mercedes are ending the year on the front foot.

With McLaren looking a step above the competition, it was only Russell who could separate the papaya pair and as we saw in Sao Paulo, Russell will fancy his chances at getting ahead of Norris in the opening exchanges.

Pierre Gasly

While his team-mate went out in SQ1, Pierre Gasly ensured Alpine remained in the fight for P6 by being the best of the rest for the sprint.

It ensured Gasly kept the lead in sprint qualifying against his team-mate and having had bad luck with an overworked engine in Vegas, the Frenchman will hope the racing gods are a little kinder in Qatar.

Nico Hulkenberg

Another Q3 appearance for Hulkeneberg and a welcome one for Haas as they look to fend off Alpine and VCARB for the P6 spot in the Constructors’.

With the result, Hulkenberg ensured he won the sprint quali battle over Kevin Magnussen this season with three results for the German to the Dane’s two.

Losers

Ferrari

It was always going to be an uphill battle to catch McLaren but losing even more ground in the sprint race shifts the difficulty dial up a little more.

Ferrari would have taken confidence from Leclerc’s P1 in practice but come quali, they were always a step behind not just McLaren but Mercedes too.

Russell being in the way will only make their life harder as they look to get past both McLarens in the sprint.

Sergio Perez

The fact that it happens at seemingly every race week now should not take away from just how bad this is from Sergio Perez.

At a time when Red Bull bosses will be considering whether they can afford to keep Perez at the team next season, again falling out of qualifying at the earliest possible point is not the way to show you are worth it.

Max Verstappen qualified in sixth, 10 places ahead of Perez which says it all.

More from sprint qualifying in Qatar

Qatar GP: Lando Norris rises above competitive field to take Sprint qualifying pole

All the action as it happened from the Qatar Grand Prix sprint qualifying

Aston Martin

P11 and P14 is not the worst quali performance we have seen from Aston Martin but it is further evidence as to how far they have fallen.

Fernando Alonso finished on the podium in neighbouring Saudi Arabia last year and yet now, even getting into Q3 would be a success.

No quali performance and no race performance mean it feels more likely both drivers will go down the order rather than up it on Saturday.

Perhaps the most worrying aspect is that a Haas, Alpine and VCARB are all ahead.

Yuki Tsunoda

If you are going to speak publicly about not being picked for the first team then you may not want to follow it up with an SQ1 exit.

Yuki Tsunoda has been in good quali form of late, making it out of Q1 in the last six races and a P3 in Sao Paulo but he was not at his best in Qatar.

Tsunoda is 4-0 up in his qualifying battle with Lawson and will want to keep his clean sweep in quali on Saturday.