| Press Information 29 November 2024 |
F1: Session Report
2024 Qatar Grand Prix - Friday
Positives to be taken with Sprint Qualifying front-row
- George Russell will start Saturday's F1 Sprint in Qatar on the front row in P2 with team-mate Lewis Hamilton P7.
- FP1 provided tricky windy conditions with continued track improvement. The Team worked on fine tuning the car ahead of Sprint Qualifying which was run in cooler conditions.
- That translated into a more competitive showing in Sprint Qualifying as both Lewis and George progressed into SQ3.
- Prep laps were completed ahead of each flying lap in SQ2 and SQ3 to bring the tyres into their operating window, which resulted in a front row start for George.
- Lewis will line up on the fourth row with Carlos Sainz.
- George was just 0.063s shy of taking P1 and will start alongside the McLaren of Lando Norris.
Driver | FP1 | SQ1 | SQ2 | SQ3 | |||
George Russell | P8 | 6 Laps 1:22.021 | P3 Medium | 4 Laps 1:21.488 | P2 Medium | 6 Laps 1:21.075 | P2 Soft |
Lewis Hamilton | P10 | 7 Laps 1:22.151 | P5 Medium | 6 Laps 1:21.734 | P4 Medium | 6 Laps 1:21.474 | P7 Soft |
George Russell
Today we had a really strong session during SQ3. The car was feeling great and this circuit is one of the best with the high speed corners. For my final lap, I was able to go flat through these for the first time this weekend which resulted in me confusing the engine a little, so I lost a bit of time on the exit. Ultimately Lando was a smidge out of reach today and I don't think we could have secured P1 even without this slight loss.
Tomorrow we'll be going for the best result we can, hopefully making a good start and then we go from there. Our focus will also be on Qualifying later in the day to ensure we can achieve the best result we can there, too.
Lewis Hamilton
The car felt decent today and the positive is we seem to have a fast car here in these conditions. Sprint Qualifying for me today didn't go great but George should be able to have a strong run from where he's starting tomorrow.
Earlier on today the long run pace felt good so hopefully tomorrow this will come into play, and we'll be able to make some progress in the Sprint. Unfortunately, from where I'm starting in P7 it's going to be difficult to compete for the win, but I'll try my best and see what I can do. We also have Qualifying tomorrow evening so hopefully we can have a good session and make some progress there, who knows what tomorrow brings
Andrew Shovlin, Trackside Engineering Director
FP1 was a solid session for us which is important on a sprint weekend with there being just one hour to get the car ready for Sprint Qualifying. Our initial performance showed our single lap performance wasn't quite there, but our long run pace looked more competitive, so we were able to learn enough to make the required changes to move us in the right direction for Sprint Qualifying.
We were optimistic coming into the weekend but didn't expect to see our performance in the same window as we did in Vegas so George's P2 today is encouraging for the Team. Pace across the top four teams looks very close so it's beneficial to be starting the Sprint Race on the front row. Lewis was looking competitive in his final lap of SQ3 but unfortunately lost a little time in the last two corners, prior to this it looked like he was going to also finish in the top four. We have a bit of time between now and Qualifying tomorrow to continue to work on our single lap performance.
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