Resurgent Piastri nabs pole at Lusail after dominant Sprint win, looks to keep title hopes alive against McLaren teammate, P2 Norris; Verstappen lines up in P3

McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who seemed a favorite for his first Drivers’ Championship until a steep drop in performance following his last win in the Netherlands at the end of August, regained some of his mojo in Qatar this weekend. Seeking to keep the pressure on his points-leading teammate Lando Norris with only two race remaining, Piastri dominated the Saturday Sprint race from the pole and then set the fastest lap in Qualifying later in the day to also take the pole for Sunday’s Grand Prix. Norris was still second fastest, trailing his Aussie stablemate by about a tenth, and will line up alongside Piastri in P2 on the grid. After outscoring Norris 8 to 6 points in the Sprint, Piastri now trails by 22 and will be looking to score the maximum from the weekend to keep his title aspirations alive heading into the finale in Abu Dhabi two weeks from now, while also perhaps hoping that Norris experiences some sort of mechanical misfortune that limits his own points possibilities. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who is third in the title hunt and got a big boost to his long shot bid for a fifth consecutive crown after McLaren’s double DQ in and his own victory in Vegas last week, will line up on the second row in P3. The Dutchman will be rooting for more mayhem to befall the two McLaren’s ahead as they battle with one another, as he trails Norris by 25 points, exactly one race win.

Top 10 qualifiers for the Qatar GP:

Driver		Grid	Qual time
	O. Piastri McLaren · #81	1	1:19.387
	L. Norris McLaren · #4	2	1:19.495
	M. Verstappen Red Bull · #1	3	1:19.651
	G. Russell Mercedes · #63	4	1:19.662
	A.K. Antonelli Mercedes · #12	5	1:19.846

	I. Hadjar RB · #6	6	1:20.114
	C. Sainz Jr. Williams · #55	7	1:20.287
	F. Alonso Aston Martin · #14	8	1:20.418
	P. Gasly Alpine · #10	9	1:20.477
	C. Leclerc Ferrari · #16	10	1:20.561

Complete quali results available via Formula1.com.

Sunday’s race airs live beginning at 11 AM Eastern on ESPN2 here in the States. Can Norris overtake his teammate and chief pursuer or will Piastri keep the pressure on until Abu Dhabi by sweeping the weekend? And Can Verstappen pull another miracle out of the bag to keep his long shot title hopes alive until the final round? Hope to see you then to find out how it all shakes out!