Oscar Piastri continued his fightback in the title race at the Qatar Grand Prix, beating championship leader Lando Norris to take pole position.
Piastri, who won from the front of the grid in a sprint at the Lusail International Circuit in the early hours of Saturday, cutting his title lead over Norris to 22 points, narrowly edged out his McLaren teammate to take pole position in the penultimate race of the season, which will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1 from 4pm on Sunday.
Max Verstappen still has a chance of winning the drivers’ title from his position 25 points behind Norris, but he finished third behind McLaren for Red Bull.
After the first run of Q3, Norris led Piastri, but an early mistake forced him to abort his second attack, opening the door for him to take pole by just over a tenth of a second with a time of 1:19.387.
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Watch Oscar Piastri take pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix.
Piastri said: “We left the car pretty much the same. Everything was great all weekend. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”
After Sunday’s race, Norris needs to be at least 26 points ahead of Piastri and 25 points ahead of Verstappen to become world champion with a race to spare. That means he has to pick up four points from Piastri and essentially finish ahead of Verstappen.
“I had a little bit of understeer and almost went off the track so I had to stop,” said Norris, who finished third in the sprint early Saturday. “It was disappointing, but it is what it is.”
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Karun Chandhok analyzes why Lando Norris abandoned his final push lap in Qatar GP qualifying
“Oscar set a good lap, drove very well and has been driving well all weekend. I can’t complain. He just didn’t get the lap, but he’ll still be second tomorrow.”
George Russell almost pushed Verstappen down to fourth, but fell 11-hundredths of a second short of Verstappen, ahead of Mercedes teammate Kimi Antonelli.
Lewis Hamilton’s disastrous weekend continues as the seven-time world champion crashed out in Q1 and qualified 18th. Hamilton was 18th in Friday’s sprint qualifying, but was also eliminated in Q1 last weekend in Las Vegas.
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Lewis Hamilton suffered a crushing defeat in qualifying at the Qatar GP, resulting in his second Q1 exit.
Ferrari teammate Charles Leclerc also lacked the pace, but fought through to Q3, finishing 10th after spinning out towards the end of the session.
Racing Bulls’ Isaac Hajjar finished sixth ahead of Williams’ Carlos Sainz, while Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly also finished ahead of Leclerc.
Smooth Piastri outperforms nervous Norris
Piastri arrived in Qatar in poor form and had led the championship by 34 points after August’s Dutch Grand Prix, only to have what he described as an “outside shot” of winning the title going into the final two races.
It had been hoped that he would be able to get back into form at a circuit where he had performed well in the past, but Norris’ recent impressive runs have confirmed that he will need to give his all to return to racing.
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Piastri and Norris’ reaction to securing front row spot for McLaren in Qatar
Piastri felt it in the sprint and backed it up by outscoring Norris by one lap for the first time in seven qualifying sessions (sprint and full-length) and cruising to victory in the 19-lap contest.
Norris overcame a scare in Q2 when he made a mistake on his first attempt and needed to push forward under pressure, which he was able to do as Piastri broke through with ease.
The Briton then appeared to bounce back, beating Piastri by 0.035 seconds on his first run of Q3, but as in the previous day’s sprint qualifying, he was unable to get a clean run on his second attempt.
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Watch the bizarre moment Carlos Sainz’s Williams car was released from the pit lane with a plastic sticker wrapped around one of its tires in Qatar Q3.
Piastri put together a clean lap and got away with it, securing a crucial pole position that gives him a big chance of fighting for the title at next weekend’s final race of the season in Abu Dhabi.
Further twists have been added to Sunday’s race, with the introduction of a one-off rule that limits the use of each set of tires to 25 laps, and the entire field will each make at least two pit stops, excluding red flag breaks.
Piastri added: “Tomorrow we have two stops, so we’re going to push all the way. It’s going to be a tough race. Hard work, but incredibly fun.”
Sky Sports F1 Qatar GP Schedule
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A look back at some of the most dramatic moments that happened at the Qatar Grand Prix.
Sunday, November 30th
11:55am: F2 Feature Race
2:30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Qatar GP Build-up
4pm: Qatar Grand Prix
6pm: Checkered flag: Qatar GP reaction
7pm: Ted’s Notes
F1’s thrilling title race continues with the Qatar Grand Prix from 4pm on Sunday (build-up from 2.30pm, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports now – no contract, cancel anytime)
