Piastri Surprises in Qatar Grand Prix Practice, Verstappen Struggling
Oscar Piastri, surpassed the championship leader, Lando Norris, in the practice of the Qatar Grand Prix. Max Verstappen, for his part, was in sixth position.
Norris, who leads Piastri and Verstappen by 24 points, arrives at the penultimate race of the championship in Doha.
Piastri set a time 0.058 seconds faster than his McLaren teammate, Norris, in the only practice session of the weekend. Qualifying for Saturday’s sprint race followed on Friday.
Verstappen, after a convincing victory in Las Vegas, had problems with the handling of his Red Bull during the one-hour session. The driver finished 0.580 seconds behind the leader.Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin placed third, with the new team director, Adrian Newey, observing from the pit wall. Carlos Sainz of Williams positioned himself just behind.
Isack Hadjar finished fifth for Racing Bulls, while Lewis Hamilton was in twelfth position, almost nine tenths of a second behind and four places behind Charles Leclerc, in the other Ferrari.
Norris was hoping to arrive in the Middle East with a 30-point lead over Piastri and 42 over Verstappen, but his disqualification from second place in Las Vegas changed the landscape. Qualifying for Saturday’s sprint race, of 25 laps, will take place at 20:30 local time (17:30 GMT).
