Oscar Piastri edged out McLaren teammate Lando Norris to take pole position in Sunday’s Qatar Grand Prix on Saturday in Doha, Qatar.
Piastri, who led the World Drivers’ Championship standings for much of the season, trails Norris by 22 points entering the penultimate race of the season. The 24-year-old Australian finished with a qualifying time of 1:19.387, eking out Norris, who will start in second after posting a 1:19.495.
“Everything felt great all weekend. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it! The team did a great job,” Piastri said after qualifying. ” … I’m very happy.”
Four-time defending champion Max Verstappen, who gained significant ground in the standings on both Piastri and Verstappen after the McLaren teammates were disqualified from last week’s Las Vegas Grand Prix for excessive plank wear, will start in third.
Piastri gained two points on Norris by winning Saturday’s sprint event, cutting his deficit from 24 points to 22. He needs to finish ahead or no less than three points behind Norris in Sunday’s race in order to carry his title hopes into the final race of the season next week in Abu Dhabi.
Verstappen is 25 points behind Norris and needs to finish ahead of the British racer to keep his hopes of a fifth straight F1 title alive for Red Bull.
Mercedes drivers George Russell and Kimi Antonelli round out the top five qualifiers for the Grand Prix.
–Field Level Media
