7:30 Qualifying Opinions: How Drivers Coped with Dawn Start

Drivers share their thoughts on the unique 7:30 a.m. qualifying session, revealing challenges and adjustments made for the early start.

For the sixth time in history and for the first time since the 2019 Japanese Grand Prix, qualifying and the race took place on the same day, a Sunday. Lando Norris and George Russell had experienced this before, unlike Yuki Tsunoda who joined F1 in 2021.

“I left quickly on Saturday evening when we were told qualifying was at 7:30,” revealed Norris. “I think my alarm was set for 5:10. It’s not very pleasant to have to set it in the morning. But I think I fell asleep at 9 p.m. I had my best sleep of the whole week, which I didn’t expect.”

“As I’ve said several times, I’m not used to eating on Sundays. I don’t drink coffee either, so I had nothing to motivate me. Maybe that’s why I had a bit of a slow start. I ate a Nutella sandwich, and that’s it. Nothing too different. I probably expected worse.”

“But I think that as soon as you get in the car, your brain kicks in and you’re kind of in race mode. The adrenaline kicks in. So it changed things a bit, for sure. Normally, you’d have some good poached eggs on toast. But this morning, the Nutella sandwich was enough.”

George Russell acknowledged that he was also unsettled by this very unusual timing: “It’s really weird now because after qualifying, you feel like it’s the afternoon. You look at your watch, it’s 9:30 in the morning.”

“But yes, like Lando, I didn’t have breakfast. I had my usual coffee beforehand, which, on an empty stomach, made the start of Q1 a bit difficult. So I’ll do it differently next time, during Sunday morning qualifying.”

Yuki Tsunoda, meanwhile, revealed that he had drunk coffee to prepare himself to be alert so early, and joked that it’s thanks to that he achieved his best qualifying performance of his career: “Yes, I had the best qualifying of my whole career, so I’d prefer that qualifying is always at 7:30.”

“But I expected, I mean, right away in Q1, I had a good rhythm. So the preparation probably went well. I drank a lot of coffee, a lot of caffeine. I was a bit too excited in Q3, but it was good.”