‘I’m back’: Piastri in big F1 title twist

Oscar Piastri has provided another twist in the F1 title fight after securing pole position for Saturday night’s sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix.

The Australian secured pole ahead of Mercedes driver George Russell by just 0.032 seconds in a wild night-time qualifying where reigning champ Max Verstappen dropped to P6.

Piastri, who was also quickest in the earlier practice session, kept his title hopes alive with a stunning final lap while teammate Lando Norris finished P3 and will start on the second row behind the Australian.

Piastri’s lap of one minute and 20.055 seconds is a new record for the Lusail circuit.

Piastri looked a very different man to recent races when he hopped out of his McLaren with a beaming smile at the end of the session.

“Nice to be back. Thanks everyone,” he said on team radio after being told he’d hung onto pole.

He said after the session it was still unclear how well he is positioned to win Monday morning’s Grand Prix.

“It has been a good day, which is nice for a change,” he said.

“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.”

He told Sky Sports he thought he’d lost pole after making a small mistake early in the lap.

“It almost went horribly wrong at Turn Four,” he said.

“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.”

Norris also said he made an error on the last corner of his final flying lap.

The mystery behind Verstappen’s qualifying failure has got F1 commentators scratching their heads.

The reigning champ was outqualified by teammate Yuki Tsunoda for the first time.

Verstappen and Piastri are 24 points behind Norris with 58 championship points still to play for this year.

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 Tsunoda in fifth.

The session began in cooler conditions with temperatures of 21 (air) and 26 (track) with Verstappen setting the pace in the opening SQ1 segment on the demanding high-speed high-downforce Lusail circuit in the desert north of Qatar.

Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton struggled again and was among the five early losers, eliminated in 18th along with Lance Stroll in the second Aston Martin, Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and the Alpine pair Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto.

In a self-confessed “nightmare” season this was another wretched outing for the seven-time champion who won in Qatar in 2021.

“The car couldn’t go any quicker,” he reported.

Norris topped the times in SQ2 as Racing Bulls’ rookie Isack Hadjar had a late lap deleted for exceeding track limits and dropped to 11th, missing the shootout along with Oliver Bearman of Haas, the Sauber pair Gabriel Bortoleto and Nico Hulkenberg and Esteban Ocon in the second Haas.

The top 10 scrap began with Russell leading the way, after switching to softs, and Verstappen enraged by his car. “This car is bouncing like an idiot,” he grumbled amid profanities as he ran off.

On their first runs, Piastri took a slender lead by clocking 1:20.241 to beat Norris by 0.044 seconds with Russell third and Verstappen down in 10th. The Dutchman improved to go fourth before the rest romped by with Piastri taking pole ahead of Russell.

Norris ran wide and off at the final corner and wound up third as Piastri enjoyed his return to form, saying “it’s nice to be back”.

— with AFP