Piastri rekindles title hopes with dominant Qatar Sprint win

Oscar Piastri did what he needed to keep his world championship hopes alive with a decisive victory in the Formula 1 Sprint at the Qatar Grand Prix. The McLaren driver beat George Russell by 4.951s but delivered a faster lap than any of the points scorers on the final tour, demonstrating he still had pace in hand.

Polesitter Piastri got away well to escape Turn 1 unchallenged, while fellow front-row starter Russell faced an early challenge from Lando Norris which he was able to resist.

Behind them, fourth-placed starter Fernando Alonso was bested by Yuki Tsunoda off the line, with the other Red Bull of Max Verstappen also getting by on the entry of Turn 2. Verstappen continued to progress, passing Tsunoda by Turn 3.

Those would be the positions in which the top five would remain for the rest of the race, with Piastri streaking off into the distance, while Norris remained within DRS range of Russell for the early laps, while also facing pressure from Verstappen who stayed within a second of the McLaren man until lap 8.

Piastri’s win comes after he failed to finish the last two Sprints in Austin and Sao Paulo, and moves him to within 22 points of Norris in the drivers' championship.

“It's obviously a very different circuit to where we have been, much higher speeds, much higher grip,” said Piastri. “I think the last couple of weekends has just been things going wrong rather than being rather than a lack of pace, so to speak. Here, everything's gone smoothly so far, and the pace has been strong.

“Ideally, if we can find more pace – I think everyone slowly finds a little bit more through Sprint weekend, so you've got to try and get every bit out of the car that you can. I think our base performance seems very strong around here, so it's more just tuning, rather than trying to re-invent the wheel.”

Norris' third place keeps him on track to win his first world title, with the same result in the final two grands prix being enough to secure the crown no matter Piastri and Verstappen's results. And, with finishing ahead of Verstappen in the Sprint, it means that if the reigning champion finishes behind Norris again during Sunday's grand prix, he will be out of contention at the final round in Abu Dhabi next week.

“I never saw him, actually,” Norris said of Verstappen in the Sprint. “I just saw George ahead. “I tried to go forwards, we got pretty close at the start, but it was good.

“It's gonna be a tough race tomorrow, but [it’s] not easy to pass around here – too difficult. So yeah, all about qualifying.

“George was almost on pole – he's showing that the Mercedes is quick, and he's doing a very, very good job. So I think it'll be close. But the team has also given us a very good car, once again, as they always do this year, and it's been quick. It's a hell of a lap around here in qualifying, so I'm looking forward to it.”

Tsunoda finished fifth but was briefly classified sixth after receiving a five-second penalty for too many track limits violations. That moved Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli up a place – having taken sixth of Alonso on the start of lap 16 after the Aston Martin driver ran wide at the final corner of the previous lap – but he was hit with a penalty of his own. Antonelli’s final deleted lap was briefly re-instated, only for it to be taken away again post-race, ensuring he got a penalty and was credited with his actual finishing position.

Alonso came home seventh after his poor start and moment that handed Antonelli sixth, with Carlos Sainz resisting late pressure from Isack Hadjar to take the final points paying position in eighth. Hadjar and Sainz’s Williams teammate Alexander Albon completed the top 10.

Gabriel Bortoletto was 11th, meaning that – along with Nico Hulkenberg’s 16th-place finish – Sauber ends the year as the only team to have not scored in a Sprint. Meanwhile, a 13th place for Leclerc – which came after Liam Lawson handed back the place at the start of lap 12 after the Racing Bulls driver ran wide to pass him the lap before – and 17th for Lewis Hamilton after a pit lane start, marked the first time since Monza 2021 where Ferrari had failed to score in a Sprint.

Pierre Gasly got the fastest lap with a 1m23.188s after he, along with his Alpine teammate Franco Colapinto and Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll all pitted for soft tires late in the race, having failed to make much progress from their pit lane starts along with Hamilton.

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