Piastri Claims Pole Position in Qatar Sprint Qualifying
Lusail, Qatar – Oscar Piastri of McLaren secured first place in sprint qualifying for the Qatar Grand prix, clocking a time of 1:20.055 during Saturday’s SQ3 session. The result marks a return to form for the McLaren driver, who edged out George Russell (+0.032 seconds) of Mercedes and Lando Norris (+0.230 seconds), also of mclaren, for the top spot.
The sprint qualifying session saw drivers utilize soft tires, a departure from the medium tires tested in free practice. Max Verstappen,the reigning World Champion,experienced a tough first attempt,aborting his lap after going off track in the first sector and voicing frustration over his car’s handling,stating,”This shitty car jumps like crazy! I had understeer from turn 2 onwards,for whatever reason.”
Despite a late push, Verstappen could only manage fourth place, behind a surprising performance from Yuki Tsunoda, who beat his Red Bull teammate by 0.009 seconds. Fernando Alonso also secured a position ahead of both Red Bull drivers.
SQ2 Eliminations: Isack Hadjar (Racing Bulls), Oliver Bearman (Haas), Gabriel Bortoleto (Sauber), Nico Hülkenberg (Sauber), and Esteban Ocon (Haas) were eliminated after SQ2. Hülkenberg missed progress by more than two tenths of a second and was outperformed by his Sauber teammate, Bortoleto. Hadjar inherited tenth place and advanced to SQ3.
The Qatar Grand Prix weekend continues on Saturday with the sprint race at 3 p.m. local time, followed by qualifying for the grand prix at 7 p.m. The Formula 1 race is scheduled for Sunday at 5 p.m.
