©McLaren
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri delivered a faultless lights-to-flag drive to win Saturday’s Qatar Grand Prix Sprint event, keeping George Russell at bay as Lando Norris banked a vital third place to tighten his hold on the championship.
The decisive moment came as expected in the opening seconds. From pole, Piastri launched cleanly and immediately shut the door on Russell, while Norris slotted into third.
Fernando Alonso’s hopes evaporated almost instantly as both Red Bulls — Yuki Tsunoda first, Max Verstappen right behind — pounced to demote the Aston Martin.
Tsunoda soon stepped aside for Verstappen, who moved into fourth and began hunting Norris. But the pursuit fizzled quickly.
The world champion again reported the bouncing issues that had dogged him in qualifying, and with overtaking at a premium on Losail’s narrow, dusty layout, he was never close enough to make a real attempt.
With no pit stops and significant dirty air around the twisty circuit, positions settled almost immediately – except for Alonso’s late miscue. A slide out of the final corner on lap 12 allowed Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli to sweep past into Turn 1 for sixth.
Antonelli briefly looked set for fifth when Tsunoda picked up a five-second track-limits penalty, but the Italian rookie was handed his own late penalty, cancelling the swap.
Alonso held seventh, while Williams’ Carlos Sainz secured the final point in eighth ahead of Isack Hadjar and Alex Albon.
Further back, Charles Leclerc tumbled from ninth to 13th, and Lewis Hamilton – one of four to start from the pit lane – could do no better than 17th.
At the front, Piastri’s victory tightened the intra-team battle but strengthened Norris’s championship bid.
The Brit now leads Piastri by 22 points, with Verstappen 25 points behind.
A win for Norris in Sunday’s Grand Prix would seal his maiden world title.
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