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Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton will start on pole position for the inaugural 2021 Qatar Grand Prix alongside Alpha Tauri's Pierre Gasly in P2. The two will be followed by former world champion Fernando Alonso in P3 and McLaren's young British driver Lando Norris in P4.
The new grid positions are a result of a five-place grid penalty for Max Verstappen and a three-place grid penalty for Valtteri Bottas, for not slowing down for waving yellow flags in Q3. Lined up in the third row will be Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz and Bottas, in P5 and P6 respectively.
The penalty means that current drivers' championship leader Max Verstappen will be starting the Qatar Grand Prix in P7 alongside sister team Alpha Tauri's Yuki Tsunoda in P8. Occupying the fifth row are Alpine F1's French driver Esteban Ocon and 4-time world champion Sebastian Vettel in P9 and P10 respectively.
After a rather disappointing qualifying session, Red Bull's Sergio Perez will start in P11 while Aston Martin driver Lance Stroll will line up P12. They will be followed by Charles Leclerc in P13 and Daniel Ricciardo in P14.
The eighth row will be occupied by Williams driver George Russell in P15 and Alpha Romeo Racing's Kimi Raikkonen in P16, for whom the Qatar Grand Prix will be the first of three races before he retires at the end of the season.
Final row of Qatar Grand Prix once again occupied by the two Haas F1 drivers
Having outqualified his Williams teammate in the Brazil Grand Prix last week, Nicholas Latifi failed to do the same this weekend and will be starting the Qatar Grand Prix in P17, ahead of Alpha Romeo's Antonio Giovinazzi in P18.
The last row on the grid has Mick Schumacher in P19 next to his Haas F1 teammate Nikita Mazepin. Haas is the only team that is yet to score a point in the season. The Russian driver was unable to set a time in Saturday's qualifying session due to a mechanical issue.
With the grid penalties levied on Verstappen, his title fight just got a bit more difficult, but look for some intense moves from the Dutchman as he tries to work his way up to Hamilton in the Qatar Grand Prix.
