Piastri bests Russell to take Qatar Sprint pole

Oscar Piastri edged George Russell in qualifying for the Sprint at the Qatar Grand Prix, marking his first P1 start in any format since the Dutch Grand Prix in August.

Championship leader Lando Norris qualified third, while Max Verstappen struggled to sixth.

Verstappen and Norris led SQ1 and SQ2 respectively on medium tires, but Piastri was quicker immediately upon the switch to softs in SQ3, taking provisional pole ahead of Norris by 0.044s.

Russell started the second runs and rotated into top spot by improving his first lap by 0.441s, putting pressure on both McLaren drivers to respond. Piastri was the third-last car on track when a “lively” snap at Turn 4 put him at risk of missing pole, but fastest times in the second and third sectors put him back into top spot, beating Russell by 0.032s with a new track record of 1m20.055s.

When Norris failed to improve with his final lap, Piastri’s first pole in three months was secure.

“It’s been a good day, which is nice for a change,” he said. “It’s been just a day where things have clicked from the start. A pretty big moment on my lap, but it was just enough at the end.

“Thanks to the team. It’s a great car, and we’ve looked pretty good this weekend so far.”

Russell reversed Mercedes’s struggles with the soft tire from practice to secure second place, capitalizing on Norris positioning himself poorly for his final lap. The title leader allowed himself to be overtaken by Alex Albon late on his preparation lap – not only compromising his first sector but badly affecting him through the downforce-dependent middle sector – before a wide moment exiting the final corner put paid to any hope of improvement, leaving him third.

Fernando Alonso was an excellent fourth, the Aston Martin 0.395s off the pace, ahead of Red Bull Racing teammates Yuki Tsunoda and Max Verstappen, 0.464s and 0.473s off the pace respectively. It's the first time Tsunoda has outqualified Verstappen in any format this season.

Verstappen was frustrated to be buried in the lower reaches of SQ3, complaining throughout qualifying about his car bouncing and moments of sudden understeer, leaving him with three places behind title leader Norris.

Kimi Antonelli scraped into SQ3 to qualify seventh ahead of Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc in his wayward Ferrari and Albon in 10th.

Isack Hadjar had his fastest lap time deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 8, dropping him from what would have been a safe 10th to an eliminated 11th. This promoted Antonelli in the process, the gap between them 0.057s.

Fellow rookie Oliver Bearman qualified 12th for Haas ahead of Sauber teammates Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg, while his teammate Esteban Ocon was eliminated 15th.

Lance Stroll will line up 16th for Aston Martin ahead of Liam Lawson in 17th.

Lewis Hamilton was the first driver to take the flag in SQ1 on a rapidly evolving circuit and was knocked out in 18th as a result, the Ferrari driver 0.27s short of a spot in the next segment.

“The car won’t go any quicker,” he lamented after his second consecutive bottom-five qualification – the seven-time champion qualified 20th a last weekend’s Las Vegas Grand Prix, and he also failed to make the top 10 in either qualifying session in Brazil at the previous round.

Alpine teammates Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto never looked in with a shot of SQ2, missing a spot in the next segment by 0.339s and 0.591s respectively.

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