Qatar GP: Piastri ‘busses’ his way to pole position ahead of Norris and Verstappen

Oscar Piastri secured his second pole position of the Qatar weekend with a P1 in qualifying for the grand prix, beating Lando Norris after the Briton abandoned his lap having made a mistake.

In a weekend of high stakes with Norris in a position to win the World title, it was Piastri who came to the fore at the Lusail International Circuit.

Lewis Hamilton suffered second successive Q1 exit in Qatar

As the countdown to qualifying began, the drivers queued up at the end of the pit lane as Esteban Ocon complained that a Williams had barged him out of the way. “There was almost a crash there,” said the Haas driver. The Williams driver in question was Alex Albon, whose teammate Carlos Sainz lined up P1 in the queue.

The Spaniard laid down a 1:22.3 as the opening gambit in Q1, but was out of the top ten within minutes as Williams ran used soft tyres.

Oscar Piastri was the last driver to post a time, and it was good enough for P1 – a 1:20.7. His teammate and title rival Lando Norris was 10th, seven-tenths off the pace, with a moment at Turn 7.

A problem for Nico Hulkenberg had him stationary in the Sauber pit box, while Ocon lost a lap time for exceeding track limits that dropped him into the elimination zone.

McLaren made it a 1-2 with Norris 0.077s ahead of Piastri, George Russell up to third ahead of Max Verstappen. Russell complained about his steering, and Verstappen about “jumping”.

Lewis Hamilton laid down a final lap, but only improved to 13th, he could only watch as one by one his rivals went faster. A late lap from Russell saw him finish P1 by 0.083s ahead of Norris.

The drivers eliminated: Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon, Lewis Hamilton, Lance Stroll, Franco Colapinto.

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A narrow escape for Charles Leclerc

Q2 got off to a slightly delayed start as the marshals cleared the gravel that had been kicked up at Turn 15.

Verstappen went for a double build-up, Charles Leclerc was out on used softs having used two sets in Q1, and Oliver Bearman set the early running with a 1:20.4.

Verstappen overhauled Bearman by a quarter of a second, but it wasn’t enough to keep the McLarens at bay. Piastri laid down a 1:19.6 while Norris went third, and then had his lap time deleted for Turn 10 limits.

Charles Leclerc’s opening gambit was only good enough for 11th with the Ferrari driver dropping to 14th as others improved. Bearman also had a lap time deleted.

Heading into the final four minutes, Norris, who did not have a time on the board, left the McLaren garage on a new set of soft tyres with it all to play for. Norris clocked a 1:19.8, two-tenths down on Piastri.

The drivers eliminated: Nico Hulkenberg, Liam Lawson, Bearman, Gabriel Bortoleto, Albon.

Oscar Piastri secures pole position ahead of Lando Norris

Only five drivers went into Q3 with two new sets of soft tyres: Piastri, Norris, Verstappen, Russell and Isack Hadjar. Verstappen was the first out, crossing the line with a… no, it was another double warm-up for the Red Bull driver.

Norris set a 1:19.495 as the benchmark time with Piastri coming through 0.035s down on his teammate to put Norris on provisional pole. Leclerc had a spin and pitted without a time on the board.

Russell went third ahead of Verstappen, Hadjar and Kimi Antonelli.

The red flags were waved with 5:27 on the clock as the marshals ventured out to sweep up the gravel left on track by Leclerc’s huge off and pick up the sticky tape that had been wrapped around Sainz’s tyre. Sainz was noted for an unsafe release.

Back underway, Russell was the first driver out of the pits ahead of Norris. Norris, however, had a moment at Turn 2 and abandoned his lap. He still had time for another.

Piastri upped his pace, purple in the first sector, as too did Verstappen. As they traded purple sector times, Norris did not cross the line to start another flying lap and pulled into the pits.

Piastri posted a 1:19.387 to snatch pole position away from Norris with Verstappen’s time only good enough for third behind the McLaren teammates. Russell was P4 ahead of Antonelli and Hadjar.

Sainz, Alonso, Pierre Gasly and Leclerc completed the top ten.

Qatar Grand Prix Qualifying Result

1 Oscar Piastri McLaren 1:19.387
2 Lando Norris McLaren +0.108
3 Max Verstappen Red Bull Racing +0.264
4 George Russell Mercedes +0.275
5 Kimi Antonelli Mercedes +0.459
6 Isack Hadjar Racing Bulls +0.727
7 Carlos Sainz Williams +0.900
8 Fernando Alonso Aston Martin +1.031
9 Pierre Gasly Alpine +1.090
10 Charles Leclerc Ferrari +1.174

11 Nico Hulkenberg Kick Sauber 1:20.353
12 Liam Lawson Racing Bulls 1:20.433
13 Oliver BearmanHaas F1 Team 1:20.438
14 Gabriel BortoletoKick Sauber 1:20.534
15 Alexander Albon Williams 1:20.629
16 Yuki Tsunoda Red Bull Racing 1:20.761
17 Esteban Ocon Haas F1 Team 1:20.864
18 Lewis Hamilton Ferrari 1:20.907
19 Lance Stroll Aston Martin 1:21.058
20 Franco Colapinto Alpine 1:21.137

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