Oscar Piastri returned to form by scoring pole position for the Qatar sprint race.
McLaren driver Piastri has endured a miserable run of late since victory in the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August, to leave himself 24 points adrift of team-mate Lando Norris going into this weekend.
But the Australian looked comfortable around the Lusail International Circuit, delivering a superb lap of 1:20.055s, finishing 0.032s ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, with Norris only third fastest, 0.230s adrift.
As for Max Verstappen, also 24 points behind Norris, the four-time F1 champion could only manage sixth on the grid, notably after making a mistake on his first push lap on the soft tyres in SQ3. Second time around, he finished 0.473s down.
Below you’ll find the full results from qualifying.
- Oscar Piastri (McLaren) 1m20.055s
- George Russell (Mercedes) +0.032s
- Lando Norris (McLaren) +0.230s
- Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) +0.395s
- Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull) +0.464s
- Max Verstappen (Red Bull) +0.473s
- Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes) +0.477s
- Carlos Sainz (Williams +0.487s
- Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) +0.567s
- Alex Albon (Williams) +0.733s
- Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls) 1m21.433s
- Ollie Bearman (Haas) 1m21.494s
- Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber) 1m21.567s
- Nico Hulkenberg (Sauber) 1m21.631s
- Esteban Ocon (Haas) 1m21.666s
- Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) 1m21.807s
- Liam Lawson (Racing Bulls) 1m21.851s
- Lewis Hamilton (Ferrari) 1m22.043s
- Pierre Gasly (Alpine) 1m22.112s
- Franco Colapinto (Alpine) 1m22.364s
