Qualifying for the 2024 F1 Qatar Grand Prix took place at Lusail International Circuit in the early hours of December 1, Beijing time. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen set the fastest time, a 1:20.520, topping Grand Prix qualifying for the first time in 12 races since the Austrian round in June. But a one-place grid penalty for driving unnecessarily slowly on a cooldown lap handed pole position to George Russell, with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri third and fourth.
Verstappen changed his set-up after finishing only eighth in the Sprint, and the effect was immediate. He topped Q2, then produced a 1:20.520 on his final flying lap in Q3, beating Russell’s 1:20.575 by 0.055 seconds. However, the stewards found that he had hindered Russell while driving slowly on a cooldown lap and imposed a one-place grid drop, giving Russell his fourth pole position of the season. McLaren locked out the second row, with Norris on a 1:20.772 and Piastri a 1:20.829. Charles Leclerc was fifth in 1:20.852, while Lewis Hamilton and Carlos Sainz took sixth and seventh.
RB’s Yuki Tsunoda narrowly made it through Q1 in 15th, just 0.026 seconds ahead of the eliminated Alexander Albon in 16th and 0.047 ahead of team mate Liam Lawson in 17th. He briefly climbed to 10th in Q2, but late improvements by Kevin Magnussen, both Saubers and Fernando Alonso pushed him down to 14th and out of qualifying, 0.346 seconds behind Sergio Pérez, who progressed to Q3. Lawson exited in Q1 and complained on the radio that Alonso had deliberately driven slowly to impede him, before his engineer corrected him that it had actually been Lance Stroll.
The new regulations for this season allowed parc fermé restrictions to be lifted after the Sprint so that teams could change their set-ups, and Saturday’s order consequently looked very different from Friday’s. Pierre Gasly, 11th, Lawson, 17th, and Nico Hülkenberg, 18th, had all reached SQ3 on Friday but missed out on Q3. In contrast, Pérez recovered from a difficult day to reach Q3 and finish ninth, with Alonso eighth and Magnussen 10th. Sauber enjoyed a long-awaited double appearance in Q2, with Zhou Guanyu 12th and Valtteri Bottas 13th. The Grand Prix would take place in the early hours of December 2, Beijing time, with the 57-lap race set to shape the direction of the constructors’ title fight.
| Position | No. | Driver | Team | Q1 | Q2 | Q3 | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Max Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:21.579 | 1:20.687 | 1:20.520 | 22 |
| 2 | 63 | George Russell | Mercedes | 1:21.241 | 1:21.069 | 1:20.575 | 28 |
| 3 | 4 | Lando Norris | McLaren | 1:21.578 | 1:20.983 | 1:20.772 | 22 |
| 4 | 81 | Oscar Piastri | McLaren | 1:21.821 | 1:21.121 | 1:20.829 | 22 |
| 5 | 16 | Charles Leclerc | Ferrari | 1:21.278 | 1:21.000 | 1:20.852 | 26 |
| 6 | 44 | Lewis Hamilton | Mercedes | 1:21.637 | 1:21.095 | 1:21.011 | 27 |
| 7 | 55 | Carlos Sainz | Ferrari | 1:21.447 | 1:21.199 | 1:21.041 | 26 |
| 8 | 14 | Fernando Alonso | Aston Martin | 1:21.608 | 1:21.208 | 1:21.251 | 19 |
| 9 | 11 | Sergio Pérez | Red Bull | 1:21.675 | 1:21.425 | 1:21.425 | 22 |
| 10 | 20 | Kevin Magnussen | Haas | 1:21.891 | 1:21.387 | 1:21.500 | 26 |
| 11 | 10 | Pierre Gasly | Alpine | 1:21.843 | 1:21.437 | – | 18 |
| 12 | 24 | Zhou Guanyu | Sauber | 1:22.103 | 1:21.501 | – | 19 |
| 13 | 77 | Valtteri Bottas | Sauber | 1:21.927 | 1:21.731 | – | 19 |
| 14 | 22 | Yuki Tsunoda | RB | 1:22.364 | 1:21.771 | – | 16 |
| 15 | 18 | Lance Stroll | Aston Martin | 1:22.011 | 1:21.911 | – | 14 |
| 16 | 23 | Alexander Albon | Williams | 1:22.390 | – | – | 9 |
| 17 | 30 | Liam Lawson | RB | 1:22.411 | – | – | 10 |
| 18 | 27 | Nico Hülkenberg | Haas | 1:22.442 | – | – | 10 |
| 19 | 43 | Franco Colapinto | Williams | 1:22.594 | – | – | 9 |
| 20 | 31 | Esteban Ocon | Alpine | 1:22.714 | – | – | 10 |
