Qatar GP Sprint Qualifying: Piastri denies Russell, Norris P3, Verstappen P6!
F1 NewsFriday, 28 November 2025 at 19:18
Oscar Piastri took the final Sprint Pole for the 2025 Formula 1 season beating George Russell by the finest of margins as Lando Norris was third with Max Verstappen bouncing his way to sixth.
After a shaky start for McLaren with some struggles in FP1, Piastri went on to top the 60-minutes of practice and continued his strong form to take pole for the Sprint Race.
Piastri appeared to be in a good place as qualifying started but Norris ran him close, but the latter failed to deliver when it really mattered with a mistake on his final lap in SQ3 as Russell crashed the Papaya party to go second fastest.
Behind the usual suspects, Fernando Alonso dragged his Aston Martin to fourth on the grid after a superb session from the Spaniard who was ahead Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda who was fifth.
It was a great session for the Japanese drivers who arrived in Qatar with rumors that his fates is sealed and that he will be replaced at Red Bull in 2026 by Isack Hadjar.
As such Tsunoda was probably driving with less pressure on his shoulders and managed to outqualify Verstappen who spent Sprint Qualifying bouncing on track and complaining about it over the team on his way to sixth fastest.
At least the Dutchman will not have to worry about taking fifth place at the start with Tsunoda surely moving aside.
"Not good from the first lap," Verstappen said. "Just really bad bouncing and very aggressive understeer that would shift into oversteer at high-speed.
"Just not what you want to go fast. We were locked in. We tried to change a few things on the wheel but it never really worked, so it made it quite tricky. We changed a few things but it wasn't working well, so it's something we need to understand.
"With this balance, it will not be a lot of fun," he added on his Sprint expectations. "It will be more about trying to survive I guess and make some changes going into qualifying."
In seventh came Kimi Antonelli who was lucky to make it out of SQ2 as his best lap time was not good enough but a deleted lap time for Hadjar due to track limits meant the Italian driver made it through by the skin of his teeth.
Carlos Sainz was eighth fastest after a decent session for Williams with Alex Albon in tenth as Charles Leclerc split the Williams pair and will start the Sprint from ninth while his teammate Lewis Hamilton suffered another blow and was eliminated in SQ1 and will start from 18th on the grid.
Piastri: Things clicked from the start
Speaking after the session, Piastri said: "It has been a good day, which is nice for a change. Things clicked from the start, so thanks to the team. It has looked good this weekend so far.
"There are a few things to tidy up, which is nice to say on pole. It's only Sprint pole but I will take whatever I can get.
"Sprint weekends are tough to know if you are fully on top of things but it felt good all day and we made good adjustments before Qualifying. The pace was there all day," he maintained.
However, the Aussie revealed he almost blew it adding: "It almost went horribly wrong at Turn Four! Turning left in a right-hand corner is never a good thing. I lost two tenths.
"At that point I thought that lap was over, but I kept pushing and was able to find some more time," he concluded.
Norris, on the other hand, lamented his mistake on his final lap; he commented: "The pace was there but I made a mistake in the last corner. I just didn't put it together.
"I would be stupid not to try and win but it is impossible to overtake so I think I will probably finish P3. Getting past George Russell on the line is probably the best I can hope for," he added.
SQ1: Oh dear... Hamilton out!
The session started in dry conditions under the floodlights of the Lusail International Circuit with track temperature recording 26 degrees Celsius as air temperature was 22 degrees.
With the mandatory Medium tyres bolted to the cars, the drivers lined up in the pitlane waiting for the green lights as Verstappen was the leading the pack followed by Pierre Gasly then Tsunoda.
Verstappen went for a flying lap first, went to the top then Gasly went second as Leclerc followed and dropped the Frenchman to third.
Then Norris came with his opening lap and went fastest as Piastri went second fastest with Alonso popping in third as lap times continued to improve.
Then Verstappen went again, and went fastest again, as all 20 drivers were out on track with continuous running trying to improve times and book a place in SQ2 as it was all about putting in a lap as late as possible when the track was at its best.
Some drivers took their time though... Antonelli...
In the end of the first 12 minutes of Sprint Qualifying, Verstappen led the way with 1:21.172, 0.104s ahead of Alonso in second as Piastri was third.
The rest of the top 15: Nico Hulkenberg - Norris - Hadjar - Russell - Sainz - Tsunoda - Ollie Bearman - Antonelli - Gabriel Bortoleto - Leclerc - Albon - Esteban Ocon.
And once again, Hamilton was out from a first stage of qualifying and will start the Sprint Race from 18th on the grid lamenting over the radio" Oh man, the car wouldn't go any faster."
Eliminated in SQ1 were led by Lance Stroll who 16th, missing out to Ocon by 0.034s and was ahead of Liam Lawson who was 17th.
With Hamilton 18th, Pierre Gasly was 19th as Franco Colapinto was 20th.
SQ2: Antonelli lucky to make SQ3
SQ2 started with stewards announcing that Norris' claim that Verstappen impeded him in SQ1 required no investigation and the remaining 15 cars - still on mandatory Mediums - went down to business.
Verstappen went early as well, and posted the fastest time then Tsunoda went second as Leclerc took over that position.
Then the McLaren came along with Norris going to the top with Piastri going second fastest, dropping Verstappen to third - five minutes from the end.
Then Verstappen reported that his car was bouncing like crazy as Russell dropped him to fourth.
As in SQ1, the drivers kept hammering around the track, trying the get the best lap times to make sure they made the top ten shootout.
With SQ2 over, Norris emerged as the fastest with a lap time of 1:20.956, 0.049s ahead of Piastri in second and 0.080s clear of Verstappen in third.
The res of the top ten: Russell - Tsunoda - Sainz - Leclerc - Albon - Alonso - Antonelli.
Missing out on SQ3 were led by Hadjar who lost his best lap for track limits which promoted Antonelli to P10, the Frenchman having to accept P11.
Bearman was 12th fastest in the Hass ahead of Bortoleto who was 13th in the Sauber with his teammate, Hulkenberg, behind him in 14th. Ocon was 15th.
SQ3: Verstappen bouncing along...
Antonelli was the first driver out on track at the start of SQ3 with Soft tyres now bolted on the cars as per the Sprint Qualifying rules.
The Mercedes rookie went first for a timed lap with Russell in his wake. Antonelli went fastest as Russell went even faster as Tsunoda followed and went third.
Meanwhile, Verstappen with some colorful language told his team the car was bouncing like "an idiot".
Then Piastri went went to the top with Leclerc in third as Norris went second fastest as Verstappen was yet to post a timed lap with replay showing he ran wide over the gravel trap. He had less than three minutes to post a lap time.
With less than one minute, Verstappen started his lap as other driver also started their final laps.
With everything done and dusted, and after a brief stay on provisional pole by Russell, Piastri made his way back to the top with a lap time of 1:20.055, beating the Mercedes man by 0.032s.
Norris did a mistake on his second run and had to settle for third in the sister McLaren as Alonso was fourth with Tsunoda in fifth, beating Verstappen who was only sixth.
Antonelli was seventh in the other Mercedes ahead of Sainz who was eighth as Leclerc managed ninth with Albon completing the top ten.
Qatar GP Sprint Qualifying Provisional Classification
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