F1: Full Starting Grid for Qatar GP 2021; Hamilton takes pole with Perez qualifying at P11

Saturday’s qualifying session of the ongoing Qatar Grand Prix 2021 weekend of the Formula One 2021 season ended with Mercedes being ahead of Red Bull in the November 20 game. Seven-time Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton takes pole on Sunday’s main race in Qatar after qualifying at the top with the fastest timing of 1:20.827. At the same time, Hamilton was followed by title rival Max Verstappen who qualified second with a timing of 1:21.282. Both drivers were followed by Mercedes' Valtteri Bottas who qualified third following Verstappen by a margin of 0.196 s, while Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez didn’t make it to the top 10.

Pierre Gasly's Alpha Tauri qualified 4th ahead of Mclaren and Ferrari

Alpha Tauri’s Pierre Gasly continued the stellar form that he had carried throughout the weekend and qualified fourth ahead of two-time F1 world champion Fernando Alonso’s Alpine. Lando Norris managed to place his McLaren at P6, ahead of Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Alpha Tauri’s Yuki Tsunoda at P7 and P8 respectively. At the same time, Alonso’s teammate Esteban Ocon will start the race from P9 after reaching Q3 for the first time since the Russian GP. Ocon is followed by the Aston Martin of the four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel at P10. Meanwhile, Red Bull driver Perez didn’t make it to the Q3, which came as a shock for Red Bull fans all over the world. 

Daniel Ricciardo and George Russell to start Qatar GP from P14 and P15

Perez will now start the Qatar GP at P11 and is followed by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at the 13th and 14th positions respectively. After good practice sessions earlier in the weekend, Daniel Ricciardo of McLaren saw of turn of events as he managed to qualify for the race at P14, ahead of Williams’ George Russell. Meanwhile, the Alfa Romeo pair of Kimi Raikonnen and Antonio Giovinazzi sandwiched Williams Nicholas Latifi, who qualified 17th, as Mick Schumacher and Nikita Mazepin rounded off the starting grid at P19 and P20 respectively.

With Hamilton taking yet another dominant pole in Qatar, Sunday's race is full of promises as Mercedes and Red Bull look to earn the maximum points in order to win the race in the F1 constructors' championship 2021. At the same time, Verstappen will be looking to gain an advantage during the start of the race, in order to maintain his lead over Hamilton in the current drivers' standings for the F1 2021 world championship. Verstappen currently leads the standings with a total of 332.5 points, while Hamilton follows him with 14 points behind.

(Image: AP)