Oscar Piastri confirmed his return to form to keep alive his title bid by claiming pole position on Saturday (AEDT) for Sunday’s sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix.
The Australian, who is 24 points behind McLaren teammate Norris in the drivers’ championship, clocked a best time of one minute and 20.055 seconds to outpace George Russell of Mercedes by 0.032 seconds.
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In a closely fought sprint qualifying session, series leader Norris was third fastest, two-tenths adrift, ahead of Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin and the two Red Bulls led by Yuki Tsunoda in fifth.
Four-time champion Verstappen, who is level on points with Piastri in the three-way title race, was a grumbling sixth in his Red Bull ahead of Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes, Williams’ Carlos Sainz, Charles Leclerc of Ferrari and Alex Albon in the second Williams.
For Piastri, it was a significant success after two months in the doldrums and brought him a second Qatar sprint pole and a chance to add to his two previous sprint wins.
“A good day for a change!” said Piastri, who has not won a race since the Dutch Grand Prix at the end of August.
“Things clicked from the start and qualifying went well and I had just enough in the end.
“I’m happy with that result but there are a few things to tidy up and it’s nice to say than when you’re starting on pole.”
Norris, who can take the title this weekend if he outscores Piastri and Verstappen by two points, was disappointed.
“I’m here to try and win so we will see what we can do overnight. It’s very difficult to overtake here so I’ll probably have to settle for P3,” he said.
Saturday morning’s result comes after Piastri rival Verstappen’s “number two driver” claim amid rumblings the Aussie could sacrifice his own championship hopes to help McLaren teammate Norris.
Verstappen had earlier remarked that Piastri could “label himself a number two driver” if he were to sacrifice his own title hopes to aid Norris’ burgeoning bid.
And while Piastri confirmed days ago that McLaren held a “brief discussion” over the potential for him to help Norris, he made it clear during that conversation he was not willing to do so.
McLaren team boss Andrea Stella also confirmed that the team didn’t have plans to initiate team orders in Qatar.
McLaren duo disqualified | 03:26
– Piastri edges Norris as McLaren dominate Qatar practice –
Piastri rediscovered his form to top the times ahead of Norris in Friday’s opening practice session at the Qatar Grand Prix.
The 24-year-old Australian, who led the championship for much of the season until he lost form and consistency, clocked a fastest lap in one minute and 20.924 seconds.
Norris, who leads him and Max Verstappen by 24 points in the title race, was outpaced by 0.058 seconds in the final minutes.
Fernando Alonso was third for Aston Martin ahead of Carlos Sainz of Williams, Racing Bulls’ rookie Isack Hadjar and Verstappen, who was half a second off the McLaren’s pace for Red Bull.
Alex Albon was seventh in the second Williams ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, Lance Stroll in the second Aston Martin and teenage Italian rookie Kimi Antonelli for Mercedes.
Seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton was 12th, eight-tenths off the top, in the second Ferrari and like most drivers endured a series of ‘offs’ in a difficult afternoon session at the Lusail International Circuit.
Norris made a leisurely start to proceedings and after 25 minutes had run only six laps, the McLaren team having delayed both cars’ entry into practice to run various safety and mechanical checks.
As a result, Norris was 20th and last as the circuit floodlights came on and he began his climb through the standings reaching 11th, two places below Piastri, after half an hour.
He was still eight-tenths off the pace after running wide twice and had asked his race engineer “where can I find 1.6 seconds?” Like McLaren, Ferrari were also struggling for balance and pure pace with Leclerc 14th and Hamilton 12th after 40 minutes and several off-track excursions as they battled the dusty and bumpy conditions.
Norris’s perseverance began to pay off as he climbed to fourth, Piastri remained 10th.
Verstappen was clearly unhappy with his car and spent much of the session complaining about his set-up.
“Every time I’m off the throttle, the car is jumping a lot,” he said before later adding that the “clipping out of turn six is a disaster”.
With 12 minutes remaining, Oliver Bearman switched to softs in his Haas as teams began evaluating their tyre options ahead of sprint qualifying later Friday and a Grand Prix, on Sunday, in which all tyres have been restricted to a maximum of 25 laps – a rule designed for safety that will ensure a two-stop race.
Hadjar, on softs, went top before Alonso and the two McLarens showed their true pace, Norris clocking 1:20.982 to go top ahead of Piastri who then replied with a lap in 1:20.924 to take the opening practice honours.
For Piastri, who led the championship for 15 Grands Prix earlier in the season, it was a welcome boost ahead of Saturday’s sprint race and the two remaining Grand Prix races in Qatar and Abu Dhabi.
