Lando Norris could only manage third for the sprint at the Qatar Grand Prix, on a weekend when the McLaren driver could secure his first world title. Team-mate Oscar Piastri, one of Norris’s two championship rivals, claimed pole, with Mercedes’ George Russell second.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen — level with Piastri in the title race and 24 points behind Norris — endured a troubled session and will start sixth. Norris cannot clinch the championship after the sprint on Saturday, but can wrap it up in Sunday’s grand prix if he picks up two more points than both Piastri and Verstappen.
Piastri produced a tidy qualifying, topping the times on both flying laps. Norris, by contrast, damaged his floor after an off in the second session. He was just hundredths adrift of Piastri on his first lap in the final segment, but his final effort was ruined by following Williams’ Alex Albon into traffic and then running wide out of the last corner. A second off-track moment out of that corner left him beaten by Russell.
Piastri, who has seen Norris close a 50-point gap since his win at the Dutch Grand Prix in late August, said: “It’s been a good day, which is nice for a change. The car has felt good all day. We made some good adjustments into qualifying. The pace was there all day.”
Norris added: “The pace was there. I just made a mistake in the last corner on my first lap and didn’t put it together. I’d be stupid not to try and win [the sprint race]. See what I can find overnight. It’s impossible to overtake, so I think I am probably going to finish P3 but if I can at least get George off the line, that’s probably the most I can hope for.”
The sprint awards eight points for a win, seven for second and so on down to eighth.
Piastri’s pole came despite a significant oversteer scare on the entry to Turn Four, which he estimated cost about 0.2 seconds. “Pretty scary — turning left in a right-hand corner is never good, especially at the speeds you’re doing there,” he said.
Verstappen’s problems were underlined by being beaten by team-mate Yuki Tsunoda in qualifying for the first time this season, the Japanese driver 0.009 seconds quicker. Verstappen complained repeatedly over the radio about severe bouncing during the session. He was fastest in Q1 and close to the McLarens in Q2, but damaged his floor with an off at Turn Four on his first flying lap in the final session, compromising the car.
It was the first occasion Verstappen had been out-qualified by a team-mate since the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix. “Not good. From the first lap just really bad bouncing and very aggressive understeer that would switch into oversteer in high speed. Just not what you want. We tried to change a few things on the wheel but it never really worked,” he said. “With this balance, in the sprint it will not be a lot of fun. It will be more about trying to survive and then make some changes going into qualifying.”
Arguably the standout performer in sprint qualifying was Fernando Alonso, who put the Aston Martin fourth on the grid — an impressive result for a team sitting eighth in the constructors’ standings. “One of the best results of the year,” Alonso said. “Tough circuit, high-speed sections and the car seemed in the window already in first practice. A bit of stress in Q2 because of traffic but we made it into Q3 and then we put a lap together. Twenty-four years’ experience, 44 years old, it has some disadvantages. I get a bit more tired with the jet lag. But I know the tracks, the tyres, and know how to extract everything on Fridays, and then on Saturdays it’s true we open parc ferme and make some small changes to the cars and everyone seems to get on top of the circuit.”
Behind Alonso, Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli was seventh, with the Williams of Carlos Sainz and Alex Albon sandwiching Charles Leclerc. Lewis Hamilton said little after the session, responding to a question about how tricky the car was with: “Same as always.”
