Australia’s Oscar Piastri has taken a headline win in the sprint race for the Qatar Grand Prix. Verstappen was the quickest in qualifying but a late penalty saw Russell get the better of the champ.
Piastri’s second sprint race win of his career in consecutive years at the Lusail International Circuit was the repayment for conceding the sprint win in São Paulo.
Norris lined up on pole and got away cleanly, further back Piastri got past Russell with a gusty move hanging on around the outside. At the rear of the field Perez and Colapinto started from the pit lane.
However, Perez failed to react quickly to the light turning green resulting in Colapinto sneaking past and relegating the Mexican to last- where he would stay for the entire 19 laps. His teammate Max Verstappen would drop down to 9th in the early stages due to a great getaway from Lewis Hamilton.
A bit snap of oversteer saw losses to Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly but the 2025 world champion was lucky to keep it on the track.
It was a poor sprint for the Red Bull family too, Liam Lawson qualified 10th but was swallowed by the pack finding himself 17th in the first handful of laps.
That left the Alpines and the Haas to fight it out for some crucial points in the constructor’s championship. The former not scoring points due to Gasly being swiftly repassed by Verstappen. But arguably the driver of the sprint was Nico Hulkenberg.
He defended his position against the four-time champion and created a gap of just under two seconds which allowed him to score two points for Haas. The American team now sits three points ahead in 6th.
Returning to the front, it was Norris who played the team game, allowing Piastri to remain in the one-second DRS zone so that McLaren could maximise their points against Ferrari. Russell would fight hard and on two occasions Piastri’s defensive driving was called into question.
Ultimately it was a late move but just before the breaking zone and in one motion, deeming it fair.
A frustrated Russell soon found himself under pressure from Carlos Sainz. The Ferraris couldn’t mount a challenge for a podium position losing their ground to win the constructors.
McLaren orchestrated the perfect switch between Norris and Piastri allowing Piastri to be victorious for playing a selfless role in Norris’ failed championship bid.
Attention then turned to qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix. The session was kept clean but as this season has proved margins were tight and being on the wrong side of said margin can be tricky to overcome on Sunday.
Qualifying 1 saw Yuki Tsunoda progress ahead of Alex Albon by less than three-hundredths of a second. His teammate Liam Lawson couldn’t replicate his form of spring qualifying being knocked out 17th fastest. Ocon and Colapinto continued their struggles around Lusail. Ocon without the upgrades afforded to Gasly can explain a portion of the gap between teammates. Gasly’s form has been undeniable since Brazil.
The biggest shock of the session was Hulkenberg. Points in the sprint to qualifying 18th and a supposed battery issue costing the Hulk a spot in Q2.
Q2 saw both of the Kick Sauber cars in the session which shows a little bit of promise in what has been a very grim year. Zhou is ahead of Bottas in 12th and 13th.
The tough luck story was for Gasly this time around being just one hundredth of a Q3 birth and the visible frustration of the Frenchman clear to see.
The Aston Martins have never made Q3 together this season and that continued seeing Lance Stroll fall 15th at the end of the session.
It has been a tough weekend also for RB, Tsunoda the leading car in 14th seems unlikely to score points which could see them finish 8th in the constructor’s championship behind Haas and Alpine.
Q3 saw Kevin Magnussen take part in his second last race weekend for Haas. The Dane could only manage 10th but can score points tomorrow as their race pace has been a strong suit of the car.
Perez somewhat bounced back, finishing ninth, his best qualifying result in the last eight attempts (including sprints).
Fernando Alonso was beyond impressive, demonstrating the high-speed capabilities of his Aston Martin, and seeing the Spaniard qualify 8th was a nice touch.
The McLarens of Norris and Piastri start third and forth respectively but have very strong race pace and can push for podiums and win’s in the Grand Prix. Ferrari, on the other hand has a very tough job – 5th and 7th mean their chances of competing for the constructors in Abu Dhabi could be at risk.
Verstappen took provisional pole ahead of Russell by just five-hundredths of a second. However, a penalty awarded much later awarded Russell the starting position due to the Dutchman driving unnecessarily slowly and impeding the Brit.
A one-place grid penalty is rarely seen but it means Verstappen will start second and could lead to some fireworks on the opening lap of the Grand Prix.
The Qatar Grand Prix gets underway at 3am (AEDT).