Oscar Piastri took a spectacular victory in the Qatar Sprint, beating the second McLaren of George Russell and Lando Norris in the 19-lap event.
Piastri led the field confidently from pole position and, with the exception of a deterioration in tire performance in the latter laps, came into little danger, while the lead Mercedes held off Norris to retain second place.
Third title contender Max Verstappen could only improve from sixth to fourth as he continued to experience a frustrating problem with porpoising, while Kimi Antonelli took fifth at the start after Yuki Tsunoda was given a time penalty for exceeding track limits.
However, Antonelli was also given a five-second penalty after the checkered flag, dropping the Mercedes newbie back to sixth and leaving Tsunoda with four points. Alonso and Carlos Sainz finished the points-paying positions in the sprint based on tire management and track cleanliness.
There was only one hour of practice on offer on Friday, increasing the pressure to post a perfect lap in sprint qualifying to determine the order of the 19-lap event. Piastri reached pole position on his final attempt, putting him in the best position to score the maximum eight points for victory.
The Australian trailed Russell’s lead Mercedes by just 0.032 seconds, while an error caused Norris to hit gravel at the final corner, taking him out of contention for top spot. Alonso was an impressive fourth for Aston Martin, with Tsunoda taking P5, unexpectedly overtaking his Red Bull teammate Verstappen.
The Dutchman usually excels in sprint qualifying, having achieved 10 pole positions in this format, but on this occasion he finished sixth on the grid.
It was an even more difficult day for Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, whose performance was summed up by his 10-word answer in the post-session interview as he was relegated from SQ1 to P18. As a result, the team decided to make changes to the car overnight in parc ferme conditions, leaving it to start from the pit lane – Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto found themselves in the same position.
As the other 16 contenders lined up on the grid and the tire blankets were removed, it was revealed that the medium compound was the tire of choice for the majority, with a mix of used and fresh for those at the forefront.
The lights went out at the Lusail International Circuit and Piastri got the launch he needed to pull away from Russell, who immediately had to defend against Norris as they approached Turn 1. Right behind, Alonso suffered the most as he was passed by both Red Bulls, with Verstappen improving to P4, a dream double for him.
It was a less than ideal opening lap for Charles Leclerc, who went wide at Turn 2 and dropped from ninth to 13th, forcing him into the midfield DRS train. Things weren’t looking much better for his teammate Hamilton, who was stuck in P18 after failing to improve on his pit lane debut.
As Piastri picked up road speed, establishing a gap of over a second in the first few laps, Verstappen attempted unsuccessfully to overtake Norris for third place before reporting that “the bouncing is still very bad” – he continued to struggle with porpoising during Friday’s race and it was clear the problem had not been fully resolved.
As he continued to relay issues with both radio quality and car “jumping”, a part of Carlos Sainz’s Williams was thrown onto the circuit while he was racing in P8, but with Isak Hadjar 1.7s behind, he could manage the damage.
Back at the front of the field, Piastri appeared to be in a league of his own and by lap 11 had extended his lead over Russell to two seconds. The Mercedes driver had been warned that tire wear problems might have set in, but there was little danger of the top three changing order.
There was more action outside the point-paying positions as Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson battled with Leclerc, straying off the track while trying to pass the Ferrari. He immediately took back the position and he was not the only one having difficulty staying within track limits – it turned out that Tsunoda was being investigated for going over the white line several times, and was subsequently given a five-second penalty.
This proved to be good news for Kimi Antonelli, who improved to P6 when Alonso went wide at the final corner and tried to gain another position from the Red Bull driver’s penalty if he could stay within track limits himself.
However, the Italian youngster was given a time penalty for the same reasons as Tsunoda, ultimately finishing sixth. Yet he had a much better sprint than the Ferrari pair, who scored zero points when Leclerc and Hamilton crossed the line in P13 and P17 respectively.
Others who failed to score were Hadjar in P9 and Alex Albon in P10, followed by Gabriel Bortoletto and Ollie Biermann, meaning Kick Sauber is still the only team without a point from a sprint this season.
Lawson was 14th behind Esteban Ocon and Nico Hülkenberg, with the remaining pit lane starters treating the session as a test event and tried for new tires at various stages.
key quote
“I mean, it’s been a good weekend so far,” Piastri said. “I think everything went smoothly in the sprint. I’m happy with how it’s gone so far, just need to keep it going.”
what will happen next
Following the sprint, the drivers will return to the track for qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix at 1800 local time. go towards race hub To find out how you can follow the action.