Oscar Piastri has secured a timely pole for the sprint race in Qatar. After trading blows with his teammate throughout, Piastri survived a shaky moment at turn four on his final lap to take his first sprint pole since Spa and his first pole of any kind since Zandvoort back in August. Piastri praised both his team and his own efforts, saying it was “nice to be back”. Having played second fiddle to his teammate ever since Baku, Piastri is well placed to keep the title race alive.
George Russell maintained his impressive record in Qatar, after finding his form in SQ3, the Mercedes driver briefly took provisional pole, only to miss out by 0.032s. Behind him, Lando Norris looked to be a contender for pole throughout but ultimately lost out to both his teammate and Russell. Though third place is far from the worst-case scenario, Norris will be eager to mix it up with Piastri in tomorrow’s sprint.
Aston Martin’s strong free practice pace persisted through to qualifying. Fernando Alonso weathered multiple cases of impeding to briefly go quickest in SQ1 en route to fourth in SQ3. His best qualifying performance of the season.
In addition to Alonso, the biggest surprise of SQ3 was undoubtedly Yuki Tsunoda. Clean and consistent throughout, Tsunoda’s final time was good enough for fifth, one place ahead of Max Verstappen. Not only does this equal his best qualifying performance of the season, it also marks the first time he has ever outqualified Verstappen in equal machinery.
In contrast to his teammate’s upturn in form, Verstappen endured a disappointing session. Numerous bouts of excessive vibrations led to an off-road excursion in SQ3. As a result, the reigning world champion only had time for a single fast lap in the final part of sprint qualifying. Clearly unhappy with the car, Verstappen struggled to sixth. With both his title rivals a long way up the road, tomorrow could mark the end of Verstappen’s championship hopes.
Elsewhere, Kimi Antonelli briefly looked to have failed to get out of SQ2. However, a track limit violation for Hadjar led to his lap time getting deleted, which allowed Antonelli to progress. The rookie eventually secured eighth, one place ahead of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc. Alex Albon in 10th, rounded off a solid day for Williams.
Hadjar’s deleted time relegated him to 12th, ahead of Ollie Bearman, Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg, who suffered a snap of oversteer out of the last corner in SQ2. Esteban Ocon qualified 15th ahead of Lance Stroll, who was unable to match his teammate, Liam Lawson and Lewis Hamilton.
After struggling in free practice, the seven-time world champion opted for a new, high downforce setup in sprint qualifying. The change in setup did not have the desired effect. A poor lap in SQ1 left the seven-time world champion at risk of elimination, and he was promptly knocked out by Antonelli. Hamilton lamented his lack of pace, stating that he could not get any more speed out of the SF-25. Alpine will occupy the last row of the grid with Pierre Gasly two tenths of a second ahead of his teammate, Franco Colapinto.
An ever-changing story that refuses to peter out, this year’s title battle has taken yet another turn. With the leading contenders spread out, tomorrow could see either the end of the road or the arrival of yet another curveball.
