Piastri beats Russell to Sprint pole in Qatar

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 1:20.055s 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.

Isack Hadjar failed to progress into SQ3 after losing his final lap time due to track limits at Turn 8, the Racing Bulls driver classified P11 from Ollie Bearman (Haas) and Gabriel Bortoleto (Kick Sauber).

The second Sauber of Nico Hulkenberg also lost his final lap time due to track limits and finished P14 ahead of the second Haas of Esteban Ocon.

Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll was the first driver to miss the cut in SQ1 from Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) and Lewis Hamilton, the Ferrari driver once again out in the opening phase of Qualifying, as the Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto completed the order for Saturday’s 19-lap Sprint.

SQ1

With just a single one-hour Free Practice session under their belts and no team having used the medium tyre, drivers headed into the unknown during SQ1 with the yellow-walled tyre mandatory for the opening 12-minute segment.

Verstappen and Red Bull made their intentions clear from the outset, the Dutchman the first to hit the track but he was left behind title rivals Norris and Piastri after the opening laps, the Drivers’ Championship leader topping the leaderboard on a 1:21.621s.

With track evolution at the Lusail International Circuit high, times continued to tumble and Verstappen, Norris and Piastri traded fastest laps before Alonso briefly topped the leaderboard.

Verstappen eventually finished fastest on a 1:21.172s, leaving him one-tenth clear of the Aston Martin driver as Piastri, Hulkenberg, Norris and Hadjar completed the top six.

In the drop zone, Stroll was the first driver to miss the cut by less than one-tenth as he headed Lawson and Hamilton, the Ferrari driver finishing nearly three-tenths away from the next stage and claiming over the radio, “the car won’t go any quicker”, with team mate Leclerc only P13.

The seven-time World Champion only headed both Alpines of Gasly and Colapinto, with a Turn 1 and Turn 16 incident between Verstappen and Norris for impeding noted by the stewards before no further action was taken for each.

Knocked out: Stroll, Lawson, Hamilton, Gasly, Colapinto

SQ2

Norris, Piastri and Verstappen resumed their battle at the top of the times in Q2, Norris dealing the first decisive blow with a 1:20.956s on the medium Pirelli rubber.

It left him just 0.049s clear of his team mate and only 0.080s ahead of Verstappen after the Dutchman’s second effort, with the time proving good enough for P1 despite Norris running wide at Turn 2 on his final lap.

Verstappen was left complaining of bouncing aboard his Red Bull over the radio in P3, the order completed by Russell, Tsunoda, Sainz, Leclerc, Albon and Alonso.

Antonelli was provisionally eliminated but a track limits time deletion for Hadjar at Turn 8 meant the Frenchman lost his best lap and finished P11, where he was joined by Bearman, Bortoleto and Hulkenberg, who also lost his best lap to track limits, as Ocon finished P15.

Knocked out: Hadjar, Bearman, Bortoleto, Hulkenberg, Ocon

SQ3

With drivers required to use the soft tyre for the time in Sprint Qualifying, McLaren seemed to take a noticeable leap forward compared with other teams, as Piastri just edged Norris by 0.044s after the pair’s first flying laps.

Despite having challenged his title rivals in the other two segments, Verstappen ran wide on his first effort at Turn 4 and complained of bouncing again to his team over the radio.

With no representative time on the board, the four-time World Champion had only his final effort to move up the order, which was only good enough for sixth on the grid, directly behind team mate Tsunoda and the impressive Alonso.

Piastri improved with his second effort, posting a 1:20.055s which was only fractionally faster than Russell, while Norris had to settle for third after running wide at the final corner and failing to improve.

Behind the top six, Antonelli headed Sainz, Leclerc and Albon, both Williams drivers reaching SQ3 on a track where they expected to struggle.

With the grid decided, the drivers will line up for the Sprint at 17:00 local time (14:00 GMT) on Saturday. With the title fight as tight as it is every point will count.