Norris returned the favor to Piastri in the Qatar sprint race

McLaren delivered Ferrari’s first morale blow of the weekend. The group of moving is played Builders’ World Cup against the Italians and reached the F1 Qatar GPin the penultimate event of the year, with a 24-point advantage over the Italians. And for the first time, in this Saturday’s sprint race, those in orange got the maximum possible loot by signing a double in victory for Oscar Piastri, who was passed by Lando Norris in the final meters so that the Australian could add another point in the fight for fourth place in the World Cup against Sainz.

So, Norris took back the victory that Piastri gave him in the sprint race in Brazilfor Lando to compete for the World Cup against a Max who would take home the crown at the next event in Las Vegas. The game was dangerous because Russell was close to Piastri in third place, and in fact, the team told Norris not to let his teammate pass because they were in danger. But he did it perfectly.

In this way, Piastri added 8 points and Norris 7 more, a perfect prize for McLaren to increase its World Championship margin over Ferrariwho tried to reduce the losses with the Fourth position of Sainz (5 points) and 5th place of Leclerc (4 points). McLaren therefore added 6 more points to be 30 points ahead of the Italians.

Qatar F1 sprint race final results:

1. Oscar Piastri (AUS/McLaren) 27’03″010
2. Lando Norris (GBR/McLaren) at 0″136
3. George Russell (GBR/Mercedes) in 0″410
4. Carlos Sainz (ESP/Ferrari) at 1″326
5. Charles Leclerc (MON/Ferrari) at 5″073
6. Lewis Hamilton (GBR/Mercedes) at 5″650
7. Nico Hulkenberg (ALE/Haas) at 8″508
8. Max Verstappen (PB/Red Bull) at 10″368
9. Pierre Gasly (FRA/Alpine) at 14″513
10. Kevin Magnussen (DIN/Haas) at 15″485
11. Fernando Alonso (ESP/Aston Martin) in 19″204
12. Valtteri Bottas (FIN/Sauber) at 23″351
13. Lance Stroll (CAN/Aston Martin) at 24″421
14. Esteban Ocon (FRA/Alpine) at 30″379
15. Alexander Albon (TAI/Williams) in 33″062
16. Liam Lawson (NZL/RB) at 34″356
17. Yuki Tsunoda (JAP/RB) at 35″102
18. Franco Colapinto (ARG/Williams) at 35″639
19. Zhou Guanyu (CHI/Sauber) at 1’11″436
20. Sergio Perez (MEX/Red Bull) at 1’14″371

Russell tried everything

All this, in a sprint race where Lando Norris dominated from start to finish from pole, without suffering, and trying to help Oscar Piastri with his DRS for most of the race so that the Australian could defend himself from a George Russell is very fast. Until the finish line, Lando pulled away just enough for Piastri to overtake him and thus finish with a perfect double for the English team.

Mercedes once again had a great race pace, as it happened in Las Vegas, possibly due to the lower temperature of Lusail’s runway compared to previous years. George lost his position Piastri at the start due to the Australian’s excellent attack where he took the outside in turn 1 to secure the inside in turn 2 and thus complete the overtaking. He had to suffer to defend himself against a very aggressive George who tried everything, with a very fast pace. He tried it on laps 4, 9 and 14, but Piastri shut him down at all timesonce again showed great defensive skills as he already showed in Baku against Leclerc.

Of course, on that 14th lap, Piastri aggravated a defense that was so intense, perhaps out of it, by moving his car at the last moment almost in the braking zone.something Russell called for the punishment of his opponent on the radio.

The first 4, stuck in just 1.3 seconds

In the end, Russell was left without a prize and thirdwho witnessed the movement in which Norris gave the victory in the sprint to his teammate Piastri.

Carlos Sainz finished in fourth position, having ridden the entire race in a tight group at the front, but had no chance of aiming for that sprint podium. despite being close to George, in his DRS zone.

The distances between the top 4 are minimal. Piastri won by a tenth of a margin over Lando, with Russell 0.2 behind his compatriot and Sainz 0.9 behind Russell. That means the first 4 finished in 1″3.

Battle of Hamilton-Leclerc

Equality was the tone of the race then. The first 5 after the halfway point of the sprint event (Norris, Piastri, Russell, Sainz and Hamilton) are close to ride, in a DRS train. Then came a spectacular attack from Leclerc on Hamilton, a duel between the Ferrari team-mates in 2025. They were close to being held, but Charles completed a great maneuver to take the 1st 5 place and thus recover a point that he managed to lose at the start.

Leclerc and Verstappen gave way at the start

at the exit, Sainz slipped in turn 1, Leclerc had to brake and that cost him his position on Lewis which was later well recovered by ‘Il Principino’. Verstappen was also affected by Sainz’s first skid in a car that suffered greatly from brake stability.

The Dutchman gave up two places when he had to brake at turn 1 after Leclerc and lost another to Gasly when he went slightly off the track. He regained the place lost with the Frenchman who finished 8th, but he didn’t have the car for more, something that serves as a clear example of the great season that Max had.

He became champion in a car that was worse than the McLaren on most tracks. Max finished 8th and took the last points at stake after Hülkenberg (7th) and Hamilton (6th).

Alonso, 11th

For his part, Fernando Alonso gained a place at the start to finish 10th, but was unable to hold off Magnussen, who was currently driving the faster Haas. With a very nervous car at the back, Fernando managed to finish 11th, far from the last point, which in the sprint was given to 8th (Verstappen).

Pérez, sunk after a notable error

‘Checo’ Pérezafter sinking in the sprint classification, decided to leave the pit lane to make some changes to his car. But in that beginning he made a mistake unbecoming of his measure.

At the green light, ‘Checo’ did not start and was overtaken by Colapinto, who was pulling out after him from garage street, at the same point. While Franco passed Zhou to finish 18th in his Williams, Pérez finished in last position (20th), 1’14” behind the winner.

It is noteworthy that Pérez fell asleep in front of the traffic lights after spending 5 minutes in the pit lane exit position to start in front of Colapinto. And after the sprint event, Pérez explained himself.

“The main goal today is to go in clean air for most of the race as possible and then when I start I’m slow and Franco is behind. I had very cold tires (as I was stuck for 5 minutes at that point). The important thing for us now is to find the balance in clean air as much as possible. So, there’s still a lot of room for improvement.”