DOHA, Qatar – Oscar Piastri proved his worth by securing pole position for Saturday’s sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix, marking his first top spot since the end of August. The championship leader, Lando Norris, achieved third place in qualifying, while Max Verstappen, from Red Bull, placed in sixth position. Piastri clocked an impressive lap, beating George Russell of Mercedes by 0.032 seconds with his last lap to secure the first position on the grid. Norris, his teammate and rival for the title, went off track on the last corner, which relegated him to third place, behind Russell.
Although Saturday’s sprint race offers a maximum of eight points and only one point difference between each position, Piastri’s pole position represents a long-awaited return to his best form.
Piastri seemed the favorite to win the title when he won the Dutch Grand Prix from pole at the end of August, opening a 34-point lead over Norris. However, since then, he has only managed one podium.
“This damn car, man; it’s bouncing like an idiot,” Verstappen complained.
Max Verstappen
Upon finishing the classification, Red Bull’s boss, Laurent Mekies, told the reigning champion via radio: “We have work to do, but the weekend is long, friend”.
Verstappen finished the session in sixth place, although it is unlikely that he will face resistance from his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, who surprisingly qualified ahead of him in fifth place. Fernando Alonso, from Aston Martin, was the highlight of the session. Kimi Antonelli, the Mercedes rookie, will start in seventh place. Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon, from Williams, qualified on either side of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari, who finished in ninth place. The first qualifying session, SQ1, revealed a moment of tension between the teams competing for the title, with the stewards briefly analyzing whether Verstappen had hindered Norris’ lap at Turn 16.McLaren was not impressed, and race engineer Will Joseph told Norris: “On every lap, he pulls over immediately after completing his lap. This time he decided to stay out and screw you over. Yes, we saw it, mate.” “Yes, it’s obvious,” replied Norris. The commissioners did not investigate the incident for long before deciding that there would be no further investigation. Outside of the title fight, there was little drama, although Lewis Hamilton’s disappointing debut year at Ferrari continued with his elimination in SQ1.“Verstappen simply didn’t get out of my way,” Norris reported. “It cost me the lap.”
Lando Norris
Hamilton has already qualified the 2025 season as the worst of his successful career. The 40-year-old pilot’s mood didn’t improve much when he arrived at the press area for his television interviews. When asked if the car was difficult to drive, Hamilton replied: “Same as always.” Then he was asked if he could take something positive for the next day. “The weather is nice,” he replied.“Ah, man, the car is not going to go any faster”, said the seven-time world champion over the radio.
Lewis Hamilton
