Piastri Claims Qatar Sprint Pole, Verstappen Qualifies Sixth
Lusail, Qatar – Oscar Piastri secured pole position for the Qatar Sprint race on Saturday, narrowly edging out George Russell and Lando norris in a thrilling qualifying session. The McLaren driver posted a fastest time of 1m 20.055s, just fractions of a second ahead of Russell.
The result marks a critically important moment for Piastri and McLaren,demonstrating strong pace at a circuit where overtaking is challenging. Meanwhile, four-time World Champion Max Verstappen will start the Sprint race down in sixth position, after struggling to find pace throughout qualifying and relying on a final effort that wasn’t enough to elevate him further up the order. He will line up directly behind teammate Yuki Tsunoda and Fernando Alonso.
Norris, who initially held third, saw his position confirmed after running wide at the final corner on his final lap, preventing any enhancement.Behind the top three, the session saw a strong showing from Williams, with both drivers, Alex Albon and Logan Sargeant, reaching SQ3 – a notable achievement at a track where they anticipated difficulties. Antonelli qualified seventh, followed by Sainz, Leclerc, and Albon.
“It’s been a good day, which is nice for a change,” Piastri saeid. “It’s been a day where things have clicked from the start and I think the Sprint Qualifying session went really well. I had a pretty big moment on my lap but it was just enough in the end so thanks to the team – it’s a great car and it’s looked really good this weekend so far. I’m pretty happy with that.”
The Qatar Sprint race is scheduled for 1700 local time on Saturday. Fans can follow all the action via the official Formula 1 Race Hub: https://www.formula1.com/en/racing/2025/qatar.
