LUSAIL: Oscar Piastri delivered a commanding performance in the FORMULA 1 QATAR AIRWAYS QATAR GRAND PRIX 2025 sprint, converting his pole position into a comfortable victory on Saturday ahead of George Russell and teammate Lando Norris in the 19-lap dash.
The Australian made a clean getaway and controlled the race throughout, his only concern coming in the closing stages as tyre degradation crept in. Russell held firm in second, successfully fending off Norris to secure valuable points for Mercedes.
Max Verstappen, meanwhile, could climb no higher than fourth. The championship contender continued to struggle with porpoising issues that hampered both his qualifying and race pace. Yuki Tsunoda initially lost fifth to Mercedes rookie Kimi Antonelli after receiving a five-second penalty for track limits, but Antonelli was later handed the same sanction post-race, reinstating Tsunoda to P5 and dropping the Italian to sixth.
Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz claimed the final points-paying positions in a Sprint where tyre management and avoiding track-limit violations proved crucial.
With just one hour of practice on Friday, Sprint Qualifying became even more decisive. Piastri delivered under pressure, taking pole by 0.032s over Russell. Norris was in the fight for pole as well until a late off at the final corner cost him dearly.
Alonso impressed with P4, while Tsunoda outqualified Verstappen for P5 — a rare occurrence given the Dutchman’s strong Sprint record, which includes 10 poles.
It was a far more difficult outing for Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton, whose early SQ1 exit and terse post-session interview summed up his frustrations. The team opted to make setup changes under parc fermé, sending him to the pit lane for the start — a fate shared by Lance Stroll, Pierre Gasly, and Franco Colapinto.
