Oscar Piastri edged out his McLaren teammate and championship rival Lando Norris to take pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix.
By starting in P1, Oscar has a great chance to score big points to stay in the title chase following his sprint race win. In addition, overtaking is limited around this circuit so track position is important.
Lando Norris had to settle with P2 but this is a Papaya front row. The championship leader is directly behind his teammate and yet ahead of Max Verstappen, the winner of last weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix and another title threat.
The McLarens laid down a significantly gauntlet at the start of Q3, as Norris opened the final stage with a lap of one minute, 19.495 seconds, which shaded Piastri’s one minute, 19.530 seconds opener. This put the Papaya cars around three tenths clear of George Russell after the first efforts, demonstrating their performance difference.
A short wait preceded the final Q3 run with a red flag to remove a sticker at Turn 2, caused by Carlos Sainz as the Williams car peeled off the markings from his garage floor.
On the resumption of the Q3 session, Norris decided to go out earlier – but made a mistake in Turn 2 and did not have the fuel on board to back off and go again. This opened the opportunity to Piastri, who found time on Norris in the opening sector and maintained an advantage to take his first pole since the race at Zandvoort – setting a lap time of one minute, 19.387 seconds.
Max Verstappen found time on his final effort to move his way up to P3, which ensured he was able to jump ahead of Russell. Andrea Kimi Antonelli was just under two tenths behind his teammate to grab fifth.
Isack Hadjar was sixth fastest, having lost a position to Antonelli in the final runs, while Sainz’s sticker issue was not a problem in ending up seventh in the overall order – although Carlos does face an investigation for being released in an unsafe condition.
Sainz joins Fernando Alonso on the fourth row of the grid, while Pierre Gasly outqualified Charles Leclerc – who suffered a high-speed spin after his first effort of Q3.
Nico Hulkenberg’s attempt to break out of Q2 was denied by a late recovery from Leclerc, who moved his way into the top ten late on. The Sauber driver fell just 0.003 seconds of beating Hadjar into P10.
Although Liam Lawson improved on his final effort of Q2, it was only enough for the Racing Bulls driver to jump Ollie Bearman, who had been knocked into the danger zone when Antonelli’s late effort secured the Mercedes path into Q3.
Gabriel Bortoleto moved ahead of Alexander Albon after his final run but could do no better than P14. Albon was unable to exact any meaningful pace in his Q2 lap and, his laps in Q1 and Q2 were both recorded at one minute, 20.629 seconds.
Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda dropped out in the final moments of Q1 when Bortoleto moved his way up into P14 with his final lap of the session. Tsunoda had entered the final five minutes of a closely contested opening stage of qualifying in the drop zone, but got up to a provisional P12 with his final time.
The Red Bull driver, expected to be leave his seat at the end of the year to the impressive Isack Hadjar, was then pulled back to the bottom five when his rivals began to improve.
Esteban Ocon improved on his final lap, but could do no better than P17, while Lewis Hamilton’s miserable weekend continued as he dropped down to P18 in the order.
Lance Stroll and Franco Colapinto are at the back of the grid in Sunday’s race after finishing in the bottom two places of qualifying.
So congratulations to Oscar Piastri with a perfect Saturday work with the sprint win earlier and taking pole for the main race. As overtaking is so limited around this track, starting in P1 will be vital in fighting back in the championship.
Qatar Grand Prix, qualifying positions:
1 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:19.387
2 Lando Norris McLaren 1:19.495
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull 1:19.651
4 George Russell Mercedes 1:19.662
5 Andrea Kimi Antonelli Mercedes 1:19.846
6 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls 1:20.114
7 Carlos Sainz Williams 1:20.287
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin 1:20.418
9 Pierre Gasly Alpine 1:20.477
10 Charles Leclerc Ferrari 1:20.561
11 Nico Hulkenberg Sauber 1:20.353
12 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:20.433
13 Oliver Bearman Haas 1:20.438
14 Gabriel Bortoleto Sauber 1:20.534
15 Alexander Albon Williams 1:20.629
16 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull 1:20.761
17 Esteban Ocon Haas 1:20.864
18 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:20.907
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:21.058
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:21.137
Oscar Piastri claimed a crucial pole position for the Qatar Grand Prix, denying McLaren team mate Lando Norris top spot as Max Verstappen made it all three title rivals at the front of the grid.
Norris initially topped the leaderboard after the opening laps of Q3 at the Lusail International Circuit but, after a short delay to retrieve debris, the Drivers’ Championship leader ran wide at Turn 2 on his final effort and backed off.
It opened the door for Piastri, the Australian posting a 1m 19.387s which left him 0.108s clear of Norris, who knows victory in Sunday’s race will guarantee him a maiden Formula 1 title.
Verstappen was just over one-tenth further back and needs to finish ahead of Norris to give himself any chance of taking the title to the final round in Abu Dhabi.
The top-10 was completed by the Mercedes of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli, Carlos Sainz’s Williams, Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), Pierre Gasly (Alpine) and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc.
Nico Hulkenberg once again missed out on a spot in Q3, this time by a margin of just 0.003s, the Kick Sauber driver joined by Liam Lawson’s Racing Bulls, Haas’ Ollie Bearman and team mate Gabriel Bortoleto.
The Brazilian clipped the gravel on his final effort which ultimately cost him, as he was joined by Williams’ Alex Albon, who remains under investigation post-session for a pit lane incident.
Yuki Tsunoda’s best result of the season in the earlier Sprint was overshadowed by another Q1 elimination, the Red Bull driver missing out by one-tenth as he was joined by Esteban Ocon (Haas) and Lewis Hamilton.
The Ferrari driver made it three consecutive Qualifying sessions where he has been knocked out in the opening segment, and he was joined by Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Franco Colapinto (Alpine) ahead of Sunday’s 57-lap race.
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/piastri-takes-crucial-qatar-grand-prix-pole-ahead-of-norris-and-verstappen.3wFuWKkl0nI0Ohler7CzOt
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella has explained why championship leader Lando Norris was forced to abort his last flying lap at the end of qualifying for the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix.
Norris had started what should have been his decisive flying lap in Q3, but Stella revealed that a mistake in Turn 2 meant that the lap was over before it had properly even begun.
“He didn’t go actually off track, but in corner two he was about to go, so he needed to back off and brake to avoid going off track, so at that stage the lap was just gone,” Stella said. “So I think Russell might have gone for a warm-up lap, I’m not sure why he pulled off, but Lando was on a, you know, corner one was good, but the attempt didn’t last very much.”
Norris backing out of his final attack meant that team-mate Oscar Piastri secured pole position in what is an important weekend for the drivers’ championship.
“Yeah, first of all, a positive day so far, with a win in the sprint and the pole position, actually locking in the first row in the main qualifying session,” Stella said, reflecting on the overall performance of the Woking outfit. “After the sprint, and also after the sprint quali yesterday, we saw that there was margin to improve the car, the car wasn’t stable enough in braking.
“So I think the drivers and the engineers have done a good job of identifying the way to improve stability on the car, and this was then exploited by Lando and Oscar, this evening to pull off some competitive laps.
“It was very tight between the two, like pretty much all season, and ultimately it was a matter of milliseconds, Oscar managed to improve in the second attempt, while Lando aborted it because he was going off track. And well deserved by Oscar, and hopefully tomorrow we can convert into a good result in the race.”
Norris will need to win the grand prix on Sunday to wrap up the title with just 50 points available in the remainder of the season. This means regardless of where Piastri or Verstappen finish, the Briton will be at least 29 points over whoever finishes second.
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/andrea-stella-explains-error-that-forced-lando-norris-to-abort-decisive-qatar-gp-qualifying-lap/10781009/
Oscar Piastri is expecting the Qatar Grand Prix “to be a pretty tough race” despite claiming a crucial pole position, directly ahead of title rival Lando Norris.
The Australian claimed his first pole position for a Grand Prix since the Dutch GP back in August and at a critical time in the season, with just two races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi remaining.
Piastri sits 22 points behind Norris in the Drivers’ Championship, the reduced margin courtesy of Piastri’s win in the Saturday Sprint with Norris back in third.
It still means that Norris can claim a maiden Formula 1 title should he take victory in Sunday’s 57-lap race, making Piastri’s seventh pole of the campaign one of the most important.
“We left it pretty much the same with some minor tweaks here and there,” said Piastri when asked if McLaren had changed anything after his Sprint success.
“Everything felt great all weekend so yeah, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! It was really good, the team did a great job.
“We had a little bit of a question mark on which tyres we wanted to use because I did a quick lap on the used set in Q2 – that threw a little bit of a spanner in the works because we didn’t expect it to be so good. Q3 was really good on the new set so I’m very happy.”
https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article/expecting-it-to-be-a-pretty-tough-race-piastri-reflects-on-qatar-gp-chances.5269ZnZ6MT8QARk1yLFb75
McLaren CEO Zak Brown says he “wouldn’t miss the start” of Sunday’s Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix as he expects an ultra-aggressive Max Verstappen to attack Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Verstappen qualified third behind polesitter Piastri on Saturday, with Norris starting from second on the dirty side of the grid. If those positions remained unchanged during the race, Verstappen would be mathematically eliminated from the title battle, with a Piastri win taking the intra-McLaren fight to the wire in Abu Dhabi.
And with Doha’s Losail track being almost impossible to overtake on and the strategies locked into a mandatory two-stopper, McLaren chief Brown expects the four-time world champion to be at his most aggressive at the start of Sunday’s 57-lap race.
“For sure, you know he’s going to try and lead into Turn 1, so I wouldn’t miss the start of tomorrow’s grand prix,” Brown told F1 TV.
“Our goal is to make sure papaya wins this championship, so if we can finish where we’ve started here and just have it be a two-horse race in Abu Dhabi, that’s our goal. And if they want to reverse positions that’s up to them, I don’t care.
“It’s business as usual, they know the rules, we love watching them race, they race each other hard, they race each other cleanly, so, they know if they can kind of check out that we’ll be looking good in Abu Dhabi. But let’s see, they’ve got to do that first.”
https://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/brown-expects-verstappen-qatar-turn-1-lunge-you-dont-want-to-miss-the-start/10781032/