F1 2024 Qatar Grand Prix LIVE: Qualifying schedule, start time, stream and updates as Norris eyes pole – UK Times

“I don’t have an answer,” he said when asked if they had learned anything to help them in the race.

“At this point. I really don’t care. I just want to get through these next couple of races and do my job, turn up and looking forward to the winter break.

“I woke up this morning, and I think the most important thing is to leave with gratitude. So I’m really, really grateful that I get to do what I love doing, even when there are days that I don’t love it as much, and I’m really, really so lucky to be here amongst all these other amazing athletes.”

The 25-year-old German, son of seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher, was dropped by Haas at the end of the 2022 season after a two-year run but in the two years since has been an understudy for George Russell and Lewis Hamilton at the Silver Arrows.

However, having not appeared once on an F1 weekend and having not secured a race seat for 2025, Schumacher has decided to leave the team and explore new opportunities after what he described as a “tough” two years watching in the garage.

1. Max Verstappen – 404 points (champion)

2. Lando Norris – 347 points

3. Charles Leclerc – 323 points

4. Oscar Piastri – 276 points

5. Carlos Sainz – 264 points

6. George Russell – 223 points

7. Lewis Hamilton – 211 points

8. Sergio Perez – 152 points

9. Fernando Alonso – 62 points

10. Nico Hulkenberg – 37 points

11. Yuki Tsunoda – 30 points

12. Pierre Gasly – 26 points

13. Lance Stroll – 24 points

14. Esteban Ocon – 23 points

15. Kevin Magnussen – 14 points

16. Alex Albon – 12 points

17. Daniel Ricciardo – 12 points

18. Ollie Bearman – 7 points

19. Franco Colapinto – 5 points

20. Liam Lawson – 4 points

21. Zhou Guanyu – 0 points

22. Logan Sargeant – 0 points

23. Valtteri Bottas – 0 points

In what is Hamilton’s penultimate weekend as a Mercedes driver before his switch to Ferrari, he qualified seventh for the sprint race at the Lusail International Circuit.

He recorded a time 0.399 seconds slower than teammate George Russell, who will start the race in second behind McLaren’s Lando Norris.

3. Red Bull Racing – 556 points

5. Aston Martin – 86 points

Much has been made of Norris’ lacklustre starts this season but the British driver blasted away from pole before playing the team game to help Piastri.

Norris then moved over for Piastri at the final bend after they traded positions in Brazil earlier this month.

George Russell finished third, while Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were fourth and fifth respectively for Ferrari.

McLaren, who last won the team title in 1998, now hold a 30-point lead over Ferrari with 88 points to play for over the final two races.

“It was about defence for the whole race, had a good turn one – didn’t quite have the pace. I was struggling a bit for the rest of the sprint but some great teamwork. Nice to have a McLaren one-two.”