Piastri claims pole in Qatar ahead of Norris and Verstappen

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 1:19.387s 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.

Q1

With a Sprint Qualifying and the 19-lap Sprint under their belts, drivers and teams headed into Qualifying with the benefit of competitive and relevant track time on the Lusail International Circuit.

Even before the light at the end of the pit lane went green the stewards were busy, noting Albon for an unsafe pit lane release into the path of Ocon, with the incident set to be investigated after the session.

After the opening salvos on the soft Pirelli tyre, Piastri sat top of the pile with a 1:20.739s from Russell, Alonso and Verstappen, the Red Bull driver unhappy with Sainz on his flying lap and complaining of “jumping” once again over the radio.

Norris, meanwhile, was left seven-tenths adrift in the midfield after not extracting the most from his opening effort, as Ferrari’s Leclerc and Hamilton were further back in the drop zone initially.

Track conditions began to drastically improve, though, Hadjar and Gasly moving to the top of the times with eight minutes of Q1 remaining, suggesting that all drivers would need to run again to make the best of the improving grip.

The final benchmark was lowered down to a 1:20.074s by Russell, the Briton’s last effort leaving him 0.083s clear of Norris and Piastri, the McLaren drivers not pushing for final laps.

The top-10 was completed by Verstappen, Sainz, Lawson, Bearman, Leclerc, Antonelli and Alonso, all of whom were covered by half a second.

Gasly just made the cut in P15 having lost his final lap time due to track limits, with Tsunoda the first driver eliminated by just one-tenth in P16.

The Red Bull driver was joined by Ocon and Hamilton, who was eliminated for the third consecutive time in the opening segment of a Qualifying session, along with Stroll and Colapinto.

Knocked out: Tsunoda, Ocon, Hamilton, Stroll, Colapinto

Q2

While Piastri moved to the top spot after the opening runs in Q2, Norris was put under pressure having lost his lap time due to Turn 10 track limits, his effort having also been half a second slower than his team mate.

Verstappen was also half a second adrift in P2 having done a build lap on his set of new soft tyres, before bringing the margin down fractional to 0.335s, ahead of Russell, Sainz and Hadjar at the mid-point.

With a new set of soft tyres fitted, Norris comfortably moved into Q3 with his effort just two-tenths slower than Piastri’s 1:19.650s.

On the brink of elimination, Leclerc did just enough to jump up to P9 with his final effort having struggled to control his Ferrari throughout, while Hadjar in P10 survived by just 0.003s.

Hulkenberg failed to make the cut, where he was joined by Lawson, Bearman, Bortoleto – who clipped the gravel on his final lap – and Albon.

Knocked out: Hulkenberg, Lawson, Bearman, Bortoleto, Albon

Q3

Norris dealt the first decisive blow in one of the most crucial Q3 sessions of the season, finishing only 0.035s faster than Piastri, with Russell three-tenths further adrift after the first flying laps.

Verstappen was left in P4, more than four-tenths back, having bailed out early on his opening lap as Hadjar, Antonelli, Alonso, Sainz and Gasly completed the top-nine.

Leclerc was left without a time in P10 having suffered a huge high-speed spin on his lap before recovering to the pit lane as a red flag was deployed for a bizarre incident involving Sainz.

The Williams driver left the garage with a floor sticker attached to his tyre that came off around the track, the stoppage called to retrieve the debris as the incident was placed under investigation by the stewards.

At the resumption, Norris was the first of the leading runners to go out on a lap but running wide at Turn 2 and aborting his lap opened the door for Piastri, who duly took the opportunity.

The Australian posted a sublime 1:19.387s, which left him 0.108s clear of Norris, with Verstappen a further tenth behind, as the order was completed by Russell, Antonelli, Hadjar, Sainz, Alonso, Gasly and Leclerc.

The 2025 Qatar Grand Prix is set to begin at 19:00 local time on Sunday (16:00 GMT).