F1 Qatar GP: Oscar Piastri wins sprint to cut Lando Norris’ championship lead

Piastri wins Formula 1's Qatar Grand Prix sprint as Norris takes a point on Max Verstappen

McLaren's Oscar Piastri claimed a soulless Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix sprint win ahead of George Russell, with Lando Norris holding off Max Verstappen to take third.

The 19-lap sprint on Doha's twisty Losail circuit was decided at the start, with polesitter Piastri safeguarding his lead from Russell and Norris, while fourth-placed Fernando Alonso lost out to both Red Bulls of Yuki Tsunoda and Verstappen.

Tsunoda then left the door open for his title contending team-mate to swoop into fourth, as Verstappen set chase on Norris. But the reigning world champion soon started complaining of recurring bouncing and jumping issues, which also plagued him in sprint qualifying.

Either way, there was no chance for Verstappen to threaten Norris, as the dirty air on Doha's motorcycle track ensured that cars would all fall away from each other, and the lack of pitstops ensured they were nearly guaranteed to finish in the positions they held on lap 1.

The notable exception was Alonso, who made a mistake coming out of the final corner on lap 12 and saw Mercedes' Andrea Kimi Antonelli stream past into Turn 1, snatching away sixth.

Antonelli looked set to be promoted to fifth after a five-second track limits penalty for Tsunoda, but a late track limits penalty for the Italian rookie reversed that impending position change. Behind seventh-placed Alonso, Williams man Carlos Sainz claimed the final point in eighth, easily holding off Isack Hadjar and Alex Albon.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls Team

Photo by: Lars Baron / LAT Images via Getty Images

Charles Leclerc lost out by dropping from ninth to 13th early on, while Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton was one of four cars to start from the pitlane and was stuck in 17th.

After the sprint race, Norris now leads team-mate Piastri by 22 points, with Verstappen 25 points in arrears. It means that a grand prix win for Norris on Sunday would secure his maiden world title.

F1 Qatar GP - Sprint race results

SPRINT

All Stats

Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	Pits	Points	Chassis	Engine
1	O. Piastri McLaren	81	19	-			8	McLaren	Mercedes
2	G. Russell Mercedes	63	19	+4.951 4.951	4.951		7	Mercedes	Mercedes
3	L. Norris McLaren	4	19	+6.279 6.279	1.328		6	McLaren	Mercedes
4	M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing	1	19	+9.054 9.054	2.775		5	Red Bull	Red Bull
5	Y. Tsunoda Red Bull Racing	22	19	+19.327 19.327	10.273		4	Red Bull	Red Bull
6	A. Antonelli Mercedes	12	19	+21.391 21.391	2.064		3	Mercedes	Mercedes
7	F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing	14	19	+24.556 24.556	3.165		2	Aston Martin	Mercedes
8	C. Sainz Williams	55	19	+27.333 27.333	2.777		1	Williams	Mercedes
9	I. Hadjar Racing Bulls	6	19	+28.206 28.206	0.873			RB	Honda
10	A. Albon Williams	23	19	+28.925 28.925	0.719			Williams	Mercedes
11	G. Bortoleto Sauber	5	19	+32.966 32.966	4.041			Sauber	Ferrari
12	O. Bearman Haas F1 Team	87	19	+34.529 34.529	1.563			Haas	Ferrari
13	C. Leclerc Ferrari	16	19	+35.182 35.182	0.653			Ferrari	Ferrari
14	L. Lawson Racing Bulls	30	19	+36.916 36.916	1.734			RB	Honda
15	E. Ocon Haas F1 Team	31	19	+38.838 38.838	1.922			Haas	Ferrari
16	N. Hulkenberg Sauber	27	19	+39.638 39.638	0.800			Sauber	Ferrari
17	L. Hamilton Ferrari	44	19	+46.171 46.171	6.533			Ferrari	Ferrari
18	P. Gasly Alpine	10	19	+1'09.534 1'09.534	23.363	1		Alpine	Renault
19	L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing	18	19	+1'17.960 1'17.960	8.426	1		Aston Martin	Mercedes
20	F. Colapinto Alpine	43	19	+1'20.804 1'20.804	2.844	1		Alpine	Renault
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