Oscar Piastri strikes back with crucial sprint pole as Verstappen and Norris falter | F1 Qatar Sprint Qualifying. Oscar Piastri claims a crucial Sprint pole in Qatar.

Analysis: Piastri strikes, an imperfect but crucial pole

In a moment of greater difficulty, Oscar Piastri made a statement: the Australian, initially the underdog in the three-way fight with Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, sent a strong signal with an excellent Sprint Qualifying in Qatar. Separating him from his teammate is George Russell, who surprised everyone with a nearly perfect qualifying on a track that on paper could have troubled Mercedes. The biggest surprise, however, is Yuki Tsunoda’s position: in the weekend that will determine his future, the Red Bull driver ended up ahead of Verstappen, who struggled throughout the session. Ferrari again disappointed, finishing behind Williams and Aston Martin, with the latter particularly comfortable in Qatar’s fast corners. The two Ferrari drivers took different approaches to downforce, but a larger rear wing prevented Lewis Hamilton from keeping up with his teammate in the faster sections. Charles Leclerc seemed on course for a top-five start, but a less-than-perfect final lap – due to a poor preparation of his last push and a suboptimal SF-25 – condemned him to the fifth row in the Sprint Race.

Here’s the real Piastri! Key move on the final lap, Norris and Verstappen off pace

None of the three contenders managed a perfect session. The driver who made the fewest mistakes, in this case Piastri, claimed a crucial pole to break out of a rough patch and play his cards in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. For the Australian, the toughest section was the double right of turns 4-5, where he experienced a rear-end snap on entry and lost a tenth to Norris. For the rest of the lap, it was the Piastri of early season, strong especially in the slower turn 6, where he gained an edge over his teammate. The championship leader delivered an underwhelming SQ3, not reflecting his current form: his first lap was erratic, with mistakes in turns 2, 4, and 16, plus two tenths lost in turn 6 compared to the pole-sitter. “The speed was there, I just made a mistake at the last corner on my first lap and couldn’t recover,” said the No. 4. Crucial negative factors were the two cooldown laps, where the Englishman pushed too hard on the tyres and began his final flying lap too close to Albon’s Williams, which overtook him at the last corner of the launch lap.

Russell impresses with Mercedes

One of the session MVPs was undoubtedly George Russell, who qualified almost half a second ahead of Kimi Antonelli. Unexpectedly, the W16 performed very well through Qatar’s medium-fast sections, not suffering the support corners that had troubled it several times during the season. Max Verstappen could have been a contender for the front rows, but he suffered his first ‘defeat’ of the season against Tsunoda, the only one of the two with a fresh floor introduced in Mexico. “If we think back to Las Vegas, Yuki was already very close to Max, but we chose the wrong tyre pressure, which eliminated him in Q1 and ruined his race weekend. Nevertheless, his speed is steadily improving,” said Marko to Motorsport. The setup chosen by the Japanese driver, which required a more stable rear after FP1, proved to be the correct path and an alternative Red Bull will evaluate after the Sprint. Verstappen’s off-track on the first flying lap in SQ3 likely caused a three-tenths loss, according to Autoracer, showing 10-15 points of missing downforce in medium-speed corners compared to Tsunoda. Without this error, he could have challenged Norris, but Russell and Piastri appeared out of reach.

Ferrari, SF-25 still struggling: Leclerc penalized by execution, Hamilton off pace

Only a strong performance from Leclerc in SQ1 and SQ2 kept Ferrari in the top ten on Friday in Qatar. As seen in free practice, the SF-25 started the weekend too far from its rivals. The two sides of the garage took different approaches, with Hamilton running a higher-downforce rear spec, but it wasn’t enough to provide the necessary confidence for the seven-time world champion. The four-tenths gap to Leclerc came in the fastest sections, particularly in sector three, despite different downforce levels. “It was a tough day: we tried a couple of different setups, but they didn’t give the expected results,” admitted Hamilton after the session. In the last two Sprint weekends, Ferrari has been conservative with ride heights early in the weekend; only in Qualifying will it become clear how far rivals pushed beyond Ferrari’s approach. Another factor today is Pirelli’s one psi increase in minimum pressures. Last year, wind gusts deposited a layer of sand on the circuit, reducing grip; this year, it didn’t happen, and loads increased more than expected.

The medium- and high-speed losses compared to Piastri, even with lower downforce, highlight all the deficiencies of the Maranello car: the front never fully responded to Leclerc’s requests, partly due to the steering sensitivity settings. Autoracer revealed this summer that Hamilton immediately criticized the power steering after the first laps, which is bothersome on fast tracks for both drivers. Despite this, the car had potential to put Charles Leclerc in the fight for the third row, but an imperfect execution prevented improvement on the final flying lap. “The driver in front of me slowed entering turn 15, so I couldn’t create enough margin and started the lap too close,” said the Ferrari driver. Sainz’s behavior, which angered Leclerc at the end of the session, also disturbed him, as he only improved in the first part of the final lap but lost too much in dirty air.