Oscar Piastri took pole position for the sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix. The McLaren driver beat the Mercedes of George Russell into second and, with Lando Norris in third, it was the result the Australian required for his world championship ambitions and allows a chance to narrow the gap to the leader Norris. The other title contender, Max Verstappen, was furious with his Red Bull’s erratic performance and will start in sixth.
Drivers' championship standings
1 Lando Norris (McLaren) 390pts
2 Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 366
3 Max Verstappen (Red Bull) 366
Despite being level on points, Piastri (7 wins) holds second place due to more GP victories than Verstappen (6 wins) this season
Points still available
GP 1st 25pts, 2nd 18, 3rd 15, 4th 12, 5th 10, 6th 8, 7th 6, 8th 4, 9th 2, 10th 1
Sprint race 1st 8pt, 2nd 7, 3rd 6, 4th 5, 5th 4, 6th 3, 7th 2, 8th 1
Remaining race weekends
29-30 Nov Qatar (sprint race and GP)
6-7 Dec Abu Dhabi (GP only)
What Norris needs
• He needs to emerge from the weekend having scored two points more than Piastri and Verstappen to be sure.
• There are a maximum of 58 points left for each driver to win: eight in today’s sprint, 25 in tomorrow’s race and 25 in Abu Dhabi next Sunday.
• If two drivers are level on points in the standings the driver with most race wins would be champion. If they still cannot be split it goes to most second-place finishes, and so on until a point of difference is reached. The McLaren drivers are level 7-7 on wins, with Verstappen on six, but Norris is 8-3 ahead of Piastri on second places.
• Norris is aiming to become the 11th British champion after Mike Hawthorn, Graham Hill (2), Jim Clark (2), John Surtees, Jackie Stewart (3), James Hunt, Nigel Mansell, Damon Hill, Lewis Hamilton (7) and Jenson Button.
McLaren sealed the constructors' title with in October, with six races remaining
On the first hot runs in Q3 Piastri set the pace with a 1min 20.241sec lap, four-hundredths quicker than Norris. However Verstappen was complaining his car was suffering with bouncing through the corners, lacking the stability in the fast turns that had been a strength of the car and an issue he had also experienced in the only practice session. Going off wide on his first run he did not set a competitive time on his first run.
The track had rubbered in for the final laps and Verstappen was the first out. He did put in a clean lap but he was still struggling and the cars behind him were improving as the track ramped up, with his teammate Yuki Tsunoda faster than him in fifth.
It was Piastri however who took the top slot with a finely judged lap of 1:20.055 and was followed home by Russell splitting the two McLarens as Norris went wide pushing hard on his final lap.
Norris leads Piastri and Verstappen by 24 points and with 58 still available the title cannot be won or lost in the sprint but it could well be a factor in whether Norris is able to close it out on Sunday, or whether his rivals can force it into the final round next week in Abu Dhabi.
Lewis Hamilton’s trying season continued as he was eliminated in Q1, managing only 18th on the grid. “The car won’t go any quicker,” he said, which might well sum up his first year with Ferrari.
The sprint on Saturday will have a mandatory two stops, after Pirelli limited the use of tyres to a 25-lap stint as a precaution against punctures on what is an enormously demanding circuit with high lateral loads. With 57 laps to be completed all the teams will have to stop twice.
