Oscar Piastri achieved an important sprint pole at Qatar, for the sake of the Formula 1 world championship as his title rivals were only P3 – Lando Norris – and P6 – Max Verstappen.
The McLaren driver set the pace when it mattered most in Friday’s SQ3, by being at the top of the times after both his flying laps, with Oscar’s final benchmark of one minute, 20.055 seconds leaving him just 0.032 seconds clear of George Russell.
Lando Norris, who holds a 24-point lead over Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix, which means he can claim a maiden Formula 1 title this weekend, finished two-tenths further back after running wide at the last corner on his final effort.
Fernando Alonso is P4 for Aston Martin while Yuki Tsunoda has finally out-qualified his Red Bull teammate to P5. Max Verstappen, the defending champion, was complaining of bouncing throughout the sprint qualifying.
Verstappen had been investigated alongside Norris as both were apparently impeding each other at various phases of SQ1 – but no further action was taken from the race stewards.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli was pushed down into seventh despite almost falling out of qualifying in the second stage of the session, 0.01 seconds ahead of Carlos Sainz.
Charles Leclerc finished the session ninth ahead of Alex Albon, who ensured that both Williams cars had got into SQ3 despite the team’s expectations to struggle with the range of corners present at the Qatar circuit.
Antonelli had earned a reprieve and an entry into the final part of sprint qualifying when Isack Hadjar had his lap deleted for track limits at Turn 8. The Mercedes driver had not initially done enough on his final lap to progress, but Hadjar lost his P10 lap time after going off.
Ollie Bearman improved on his final lap but was unable to progress beyond P12, while Gabriel Bortoleto out-qualified teammate Nico Hulkenberg. The Saubers will line up in P13 and P14. Esteban Ocon was also eliminated from SQ2 in P15.
Lewis Hamilton is having a tricky time in the Ferrari and was the first big name to drop out in the opening stage of sprint qualifying as he was unable to improve enough in his final lap to progress to SQ2. Hamilton sat in the drop zone ahead of his last effort, and only progressed up to P15 – with drivers lower down the order improving on their final runs.
Antonelli’s subsequent lap put Hamilton back into the bottom five, and improvements from Hadjar, Bearman, and Ocon ensured that Hamilton was pushed further down the order. The late improvement of the Haas drivers and Albon put Lance Stroll and Liam Lawson into the bottom five, ahead of Hamilton.
The Alpine duo of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto will form the bottom end of the grid.
So congratulations to Oscar Piastri with the sprint P1 grid position. This is an important step in terms of fighting back in the championship. Only eight points is on offer in the sprint race but every points counts. It will be fascinating how Lando Norris and Max Verstappen will perform in the final sprint event of the season.
Qatar Grand Prix, sprint qualifying results:
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:20.055
2 George Russell Mercedes 1:20.087
3 Lando Norris McLaren 1:20.285
4 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:20.450
5 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull 1:20.519
6 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:20.528
7 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:20.532
8 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:20.542
9 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:20.622
10 Alexander Albon Williams 1:20.788
11 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 1:21.433
12 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:21.494
13 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 1:21.567
14 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:21.631
15 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:21.666
16 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:21.807
17 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:21.851
18 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:22.043
19 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:22.112
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:22.364
Oscar Piastri claimed a crucial pole position for the Qatar Sprint, beating George Russell and McLaren team mate Lando Norris to the top spot.
The Australian set the pace when it mattered most in Friday’s SQ3, sitting at the top of the times after both his flying laps, with his final benchmark of 1m 20.055s leaving him just 0.032s clear of Mercedes’ Russell.
Norris, who holds a 24-point lead over Piastri and Max Verstappen ahead of the Qatar Grand Prix, which means he can claim a maiden Formula 1 title this weekend, finished two-tenths further back after running wide at the last corner on his final effort.
Fernando Alonso took an impressive P4 for Aston Martin, as Yuki Tsunoda out-qualified Red Bull team mate Verstappen, the Dutchman struggling with bouncing and finishing P6.
The top-10 was completed by Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Carlos Sainz (Williams), Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and the second Williams of Alex Albon.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/piastri-beats-russell-and-norris-to-qatar-sprint-pole-as-verstappen-left-in.50m69zfYblgt7gVLjPG9e9
McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown has confirmed that the team would consider enforcing team orders in Abu Dhabi if one driver is out of the running for the drivers’ championship.
The Woking outfit has allowed both Lando Norris and his team-mate Oscar Piastri to fight it out among themselves so far this season, with the one provision that they do not crash into each other. While the pair have managed to keep it clean, for the most part, the team has faced a lot of scrutiny over its approach.
Heading into the final two rounds of the season, which include a sprint race, Norris leads the standings by 24 points over Piastri. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen also remains a threat as he sits equal on points with the Australian driver.
A double disqualification in Las Vegas for excessive plank wear saw a new wave of questions towards McLaren about whether they would back one driver, most likely current championship leader Norris, for the remainder of the season. But Brown confirmed to Sky Sports F1 that they would only consider doing this during the season finale if one driver was mathematically out of the title fight.
“Well, we kind of, we’re one race at a time right now, we have two drivers that can leave this race leading the world championship,” the McLaren chief said. “So, how do you do anything other than give both drivers equal opportunity to try and lead the championship?
“If we get into Abu Dhabi and we get into a situation where one can’t make it happen, then of course we’ll ask one driver to help the other.
“But while we have two guys that can go into Abu Dhabi as championship leaders, it’s absolutely crazy to do anything other than let them race in Qatar.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/zak-brown-reveals-when-mclaren-will-enforce-team-orders-in-drivers-title-fight/10780581/
Yuki Tsunoda says he can “feel more confidence” in his Red Bull Formula 1 car after beating team-mate Max Verstappen to fifth in Qatar Grand Prix sprint qualifying.
Tsunoda took his highest qualifying position for Red Bull in what looks set to be his penultimate race weekend with the squad, as he is poised to be replaced by Racing Bull’s Isack Hadjar for 2026.
But the Japanese driver isn’t going down without a fight, and after showing improvements in Las Vegas, which were thwarted by a tyre pressure error from the team, Tsunoda confirmed his new-found confidence in the Red Bull RB21 with fifth in Losail’s sprint qualifying session.
“So far, it’s been a clean race weekend, pretty smooth, no issues in practice and qualifying so far,” said Tsunoda, after qualifying ahead of team-mate Verstappen, who went for a different car set-up and was struggling with the handling of his car.
“I feel more confidence in qualifying. I just have to put it all together, there’s three more sessions to go, but it’s very important for the team. It’s good that both sides of the garage are very focused and we try to give the maximum.
“But for me as well, I’m happy with the car and with my confidence. Obviously, there are some bits to go for tomorrow to find the extra tenths, but I’m excited.”
When asked by Motorsport.com about Tsunoda’s performance, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko said: “If you look back to Las Vegas Yuki was already very close to Max, but we [chose] the wrong tyre pressure that put him out in Q1 and that ruined his race weekend. But his speed was consistently improving.
“Of course, he’s improving his performance and he’s more involved in the technical side.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/yuki-tsunoda-reacts-fifth-qatar-f1-sprint-qualifying/10780612/
A frustrated Max Verstappen is preparing himself for a “survival” Sprint race at the Lusail International Circuit, having struggled to sixth position during Friday night’s Sprint Qualifying session.
Verstappen entered the Qatar weekend vowing to go “all in”, as he looks to close a 24-point deficit to McLaren’s Lando Norris in the race for the 2025 Drivers’ title, but his weekend has started in less-than-ideal circumstances.
Following a tricky sole practice session, Verstappen could not get a handle on his Red Bull through the Sprint grid-decider, complaining of severe bouncing, understeer and taking a wild trip over the gravel in SQ3.
Reflecting on his evening at the wheel, Verstappen sighed: “Yeah, not good. From the first lap, just really bad bouncing and very aggressive understeer that would shift into oversteer in high-speed, so just not what you want to go fast.
“You’re locked in [with set-up for the Sprint race]… We tried to of course change a few things on the wheel, but it never really worked, so that made it quite tricky.
“[We changed] a few things [after FP1], but it clearly wasn’t working well in Qualifying, so that’s something that we need to understand.”
Asked about his chances in the Sprint and for the rest of the event, with set-up changes permitted after the 100-kilometre dash, the Dutchman added: “With this balance tomorrow in the Sprint, at least, it will not be a lot of fun.
“It will be more about just trying to survive, I guess, and then make some changes going into Qualifying.”
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/it-will-not-be-a-lot-of-fun-verstappen-braced-for-sprint-survival-in-qatar.35ZnmckJrgUxnD9DIR3i0W