Oscar Piastri took pole position for the Qatar Sprint, edging out George Russell and his McLaren teammate Lando Norris. Piastri clocked in at 1m 20.055s, just 0.032 seconds ahead of Russell, showcasing his strong performance.
Norris, who holds a 24-point lead over Piastri and Max Verstappen, finished two-tenths behind after a small error at the last corner. In a surprising twist, Fernando Alonso secured fourth place for Aston Martin, while Yuki Tsunoda out-qualified Verstappen, who struggled with bouncing and ended up in sixth.
The top ten included Kimi Antonelli, Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc, and Alex Albon. Notably, Isack Hadjar couldn’t advance past SQ2 due to a track limits violation, ending his session in 11th, just ahead of Ollie Bearman and Gabriel Bortoleto.
Lance Stroll was among those eliminated early, having narrowly missed out on advancing past SQ1. He joined Liam Lawson and Lewis Hamilton, who once again faced early elimination.
In SQ2, Norris, Piastri, and Verstappen continued their fight for the fastest lap. Norris managed to impress with a time of 1m 20.956s, leaving only a small margin separating him from his rivals.
In SQ3, all eyes were on Piastri and Norris as they flew down the track. Despite some minor issues, Piastri’s final lap secured his pole position, leading into the Sprint.
“Today really clicked for me,” Piastri said. “It’s a great car, and I’m excited for what’s ahead.”
With the grid set, the excitement builds ahead of the Sprint set for Saturday. It’ll be interesting to see how these dynamics play out on race day.
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