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

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.

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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

Driver

Laps

Time

Interval

km/h

Pits

Points

Retirement

Chassis

Engine

O. Piastri McLaren

McLaren

Mercedes

G. Russell Mercedes

+4.951

4.951

4.951

Mercedes

Mercedes

L. Norris McLaren

+6.279

6.279

1.328

McLaren

Mercedes

M. Verstappen Red Bull Racing

+9.054

9.054

2.775

Red Bull

Red Bull

Y. Tsunoda Red Bull Racing

+19.327

19.327

10.273

Red Bull

Red Bull

A. Antonelli Mercedes

+21.391

21.391

2.064

Mercedes

Mercedes

F. Alonso Aston Martin Racing

+24.556

24.556

3.165

Aston Martin

Mercedes

C. Sainz Williams

+27.333

27.333

2.777

Williams

Mercedes

I. Hadjar Racing Bulls

+28.206

28.206

0.873

Honda

A. Albon Williams

+28.925

28.925

0.719

Williams

Mercedes

G. Bortoleto Sauber

+32.966

32.966

4.041

Sauber

Ferrari

O. Bearman Haas F1 Team

+34.529

34.529

1.563

Haas

Ferrari

C. Leclerc Ferrari

+35.182

35.182

0.653

Ferrari

Ferrari

L. Lawson Racing Bulls

+36.916

36.916

1.734

Honda

E. Ocon Haas F1 Team

+38.838

38.838

1.922

Haas

Ferrari

N. Hulkenberg Sauber

+39.638

39.638

0.800

Sauber

Ferrari

L. Hamilton Ferrari

+46.171

46.171

6.533

Ferrari

Ferrari

P. Gasly Alpine

+1'09.534

1'09.534

23.363

Alpine

Renault

L. Stroll Aston Martin Racing

+1'17.960

1'17.960

8.426

Aston Martin

Mercedes

F. Colapinto Alpine

+1'20.804

1'20.804

2.844

Alpine

Renault

View full results

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