Piastri Beats Norris in Qatar Grand Prix Qualifying
Oscar Piastri, keeping his title aspirations alive, outpaced his McLaren teammate, Lando Norris, to secure pole position at the Qatar Grand Prix.
Norris, championship leader, had a complicated end to the qualifying session. A mistake at turn 2 forced him to abort his last attempt, just as Piastri was beginning to set impressive times and was on his way to setting the best time of the session.
Max Verstappen, also in contention for this year’s drivers’ championship, settled for third place on the grid. His time was 0.264 seconds slower than Piastri’s, who set a time of 1:19.387, and 0.156 seconds behind Norris.
Piastri is currently 22 points behind Norris, after his victory in Saturday’s sprint race in Qatar. There are still 50 points at stake over the next two Sundays of competition.
The points difference means Norris will be crowned champion if he wins Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix. However, the battle for the title will continue to Abu Dhabi if Piastri finishes ahead of Norris, or if he finishes three points or less behind his teammate on Sunday.
Verstappen, who is 25 points behind Norris in the standings, must beat the championship leader in Sunday’s grand prix to have a chance of taking his title challenge to the final round.
