Piastri claims sprint race pole position ahead of Russell and Norris

Oscar Piastri claimed pole position for the sprint race in Losail while George Russell denied McLaren a front-row lock-out.

Lando Norris will start directly behind his team mate in third on the grid while Fernando Alonso claimed a place on the second row for Aston Martin.

The Red Bull drivers claimed the third row of the grid with Yuki Tsunoda surprisingly out-qualifying Max Verstappen.

SQ1

Verstappen was the first driver to the pit lane exit in time for the start of qualifying, followed by Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda in the second Red Bull. Norris also joined the pit lane queue right away but Piastri hung back in the pits at first, then headed out in time to follow his team mate onto the track.

Norris beat Verstappen’s time once he joined the track but as the track conditions improved lap times consistently fell until the chequered flag appeared. Verstappen took the top spot with his final lap, a 1’21.172.

However the championship contenders encountered each other on-track at this point, resulting in some finger-pointing. Verstappen had to pass Norris (whom his race engineer incorrectly identified as Piastri) approaching turn 16, then the championship leader used the Red Bull’s slipstream to start his lap. Verstappen stayed on the racing line through turn one, however, and Norris blamed him for spoiling his lap. The stewards opted not to investigate either incident.

A frustrated Lewis Hamilton said he couldn’t wring any more pace from the Ferrari after going 18th fastest ahead of the two Alpine drivers, bringing his session to an end. Fernando Alonso ended the session second fastest, a tenth of a second off Verstappen, but Lance Stroll was half a second slower in the other AMR25 and didn’t make the cut. Liam Lawson also failed to reach the second round.

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SQ1 result

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SQ2

The McLaren drivers moved to the top of the times in the second phase of sprint race qualifying. Lando Norris led the pair despite running very wide at the exit of turn two.

Isack Hadjar also explored the gravel strips around the edge of the Losail circuit, to his disadvantage. He held 10th place as his rivals finished their final laps, but the stewards deleted his last run for a track limits infringement.

That was a relief for Antonelli, who gained the final place in SQ3 as a result. Yuki Tsunoda also made it through for once, much to the chagrin of Alonso, who was infuriated by the Red Bull driver holding him up.

The Sauber drivers starred in the first round of qualifying, briefly getting up among the front runners, but both dropped out in SQ2. The Haas pair also went no further.

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SQ2 result

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SQ3

The drivers switched to soft tyres for the final stage of qualifying. The session began badly for Verstappen, however, who understeered wide at turn four, touched the gravel trap and slid off.

Russell beat Antonelli by four-tenths of a second with his first run and four of their rivals filled the gap between them. The McLaren drivers went quicker, however, Piastri leading Norris by four hundredths of a second.

Verstappen recovered to fourth place with his final run but there were still others yet to complete their final runs. Russell went fastest again with his final effort but Piastri had enough in hand to claim it back from him.

Norris ran wide at the final corner, kicking up the gravel and forcing him to settle for third on the grid. Alonso claimed a strong fourth and Verstappen was surprisingly relegated another position when Tsunoda beat his time.

Leclerc could only manage ninth in another tough session for Ferrari, behind Antonelli and Sainz, with the second Williams of Albon alongside him.

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SQ3 result

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