Verstappen edges closer to third title with Qatar pole

Max Verstappen edges closer to his third Drivers' Championship, after setting the fastest time in qualifying to start from pole for the Qatar Grand Prix.

The Dutchman's best time was 0.441s quicker than George Russell, while Oscar Piastri will start third quickest.

Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso round out the top five, while Lando Norris was briefly second quickest before his lap time was deleted for running all four wheels off track during his effort.

As a result the McLaren driver starts 10th behind Valtteri Bottas and the two Alpine drivers.

Sergio Pérez will start outside of the top ten having missed out on an opportunity to get into Q3 for a seventh time this season.

Perez lap time deleted

The Mexican found his lap time deleted at the end of Q2, after the stewards determined that he exceeded track limits at Turn 5 on his timed lap.

He was joined by another shock exit when Carlos Sainz also failed to put together a lap and finished 12th fastest, having aborted his first attempt on the Soft tyres.

The Spaniard was under further investigation by the stewards for "driving erratically," when he nearly came close to contact with Verstappen on an out-lap.

Yuki Tsunoda will start ahead of both drivers in 11th, having missed out on Q3 by just 0.004s from Valtteri Bottas.

Stroll unhappy

The usual suspects could be found exiting the first part of qualifying, with Logan Sargeant just missing out by 0.092s off Albon.

The Thai-British driver put in a late effort to dethrone his teammate, which enables him to maintain his 100% head-to-head so far this season.

Lance Stroll was the shock exit after Alonso managed to go third quickest, with the Canadian seemingly unable to put together a lap that was better than 17th fastest.

He could be seen pushing his trainer after getting out of the car at the end of the session, after he was allegedly told to go and get weighed.

Liam Lawson will be 18th on the grid, ahead of Kevin Magnussen and Zhou Guanyu.