Oscar Piastri beat George Russell in sprint qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix, marking his first P1 start in any format since the Dutch Grand Prix in August.
Championship leader Lando Norris qualified in third place, while Max Verstappen struggled in sixth place.
Verstappen and Norris led SQ1 and SQ2 respectively on medium tires, but Piastri was faster in SQ3 immediately after changing to soft tires, taking provisional pole with a 0.044 second advantage over Norris.
Russell began his second run and improved his first lap by 0.441 seconds to emerge into the lead, putting pressure on both McLaren drivers to respond. A “lively” snap at Turn 4 put Piastri in danger of missing out on pole position as the third-to-last car on the track, but he set the fastest times in sectors two and three to return to the lead, beating Russell by 0.032 seconds and setting a new record of 1 minute 20.055 seconds.
Piastri’s first pole position in three months was assured when Norris failed to improve on the final lap.
“Today was a good day. Good for a change of scenery,” he said. “It was a day where things went well from the start. It was a pretty big moment on the lap, but in the end it was enough.
“Credit to the team. It’s a great car and it’s looking pretty good so far this weekend.”
- Piastri makes a fast start in Qatar GP practice
Russell took advantage of Norris’ poor position on the final lap to overturn Mercedes, who were struggling on the free tire, from practice and secure second place. The title leader allowed himself to be overtaken by Alex Albon at the end of the preparatory laps, but not only was he compromised in the first sector, but he also suffered in the downforce-reliant intermediate sectors, and his hopes of improvement came true the moment he went wide open on the exit of the final corner, leaving him third.
Fernando Alonso was in an excellent fourth place, with his Aston Martin 0.395s off the pace, ahead of Red Bull Racing teammates Yuki Tsunoda and Max Verstappen, who were 0.464s and 0.473s off respectively. This is the first time this season that Tsunoda has outperformed Verstappen in qualifying in any format.
Verstappen was frustrated at being buried at the bottom of SQ3, complaining that his car bounced and suddenly understeered throughout qualifying, leaving him three places behind title leader Norris.
Kimi Antonelli qualified seventh in SQ3, followed by Carlos Sainz, the volatile Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Albon in tenth.
Isak Hajar exceeded the track limits at Turn 8, which wiped out his fastest lap time, dropping him from a safe 10th place to an eliminated 11th place. This gave Antonelli a promotion in the process, and the difference between the two was now 0.057 seconds.
Fellow rookie Oliver Bearman qualified 12th for Haas ahead of Sauber teammates Gabriel Bortleto and Nico Hulkenberg, while teammate Esteban Ocon was eliminated in 15th.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll will be 16th and Liam Lawson 17th.
Lewis Hamilton was the first driver to take the flag in SQ1 on the rapidly evolving circuit, but ended up missing out on the next segment spot by 0.27 seconds, and the Ferrari driver was eliminated in 18th place.
“The car won’t get any faster,” the seven-time champion lamented after qualifying 20th for last weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix, his second consecutive bottom-five qualifying. Also, in the previous race in Brazil, he was unable to finish in the top 10 in either qualifying round.
Alpine teammates Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto were unable to challenge for SQ2, missing out on the next segment by 0.339s and 0.591s respectively.
result
