Qualifying Q1, Q2, Q3: how 22 cars become one pole

An hour on Saturday decides where everyone starts on Sunday. With Cadillac on the grid there are now 22 cars, so qualifying had to be tweaked.

The first cut: 18 minutes

Q1 lasts 18 minutes and all 22 drivers can run. In 2026 six drivers are knocked out instead of five, the extra slot coming from the eleventh team. Those six fill grid positions 17 to 22.

Q2: starting from scratch

Sixteen cars remain and the Q1 times no longer count. They have 15 minutes to make the top ten. Six more drop out and take positions 11 to 16. For the midfield this is the most nervous part of Saturday, and the gap between tenth and eleventh is often a matter of hundredths.

Q3: ten drivers, 12 minutes

In the final part the top ten fight for pole. Usually each driver gets two runs on fresh softs. In between he comes back to the garage, the engineers go through the data and point out where there's still time to find.

Why everyone goes out late

The track gets faster through each session as rubber goes down and grip builds. So the best times usually come in the final minutes, and everyone wants to start their lap as late as possible. That's where the traffic comes from. Drivers on warm-up laps slow down to find space, and in the scramble it's easy to block a rival and pick up a penalty.

The 107 percent rule

There's a floor too. A driver who is slower than 107% of the fastest Q1 time may not be allowed to race. The stewards have the final say: if he has shown reasonable pace before, in practice for example, he's usually allowed to start from the back. Sectors, best laps and every driver's gap in qualifying are live on LapRadar.