The start of the 2025 Qatar sprint race – Photo: Karim Jaafar / AFP
Oscar Piastri reduced the deficit against his teammate with a mirror-smooth start-to-finish victory in Saturday’s sprint race of the Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix. Lando Norris finished third and Max Verstappen fourth in the last and most uneventful sprint race of this season.
The field managed to start without incident, according to the starting line-up, the competitors turned in the order of Piastri-Russell-Norris in the first corner. Behind them, first Júki Cunoda and then Verstappen passed alongside Fernando Alonso, who started from fourth place. Cunoda then let go of his teammate a few corners later, who immediately caught up to Norris, who was driving in third place.
However, the big loser of the start was not Alonso, but Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who drifted wide and lost four places in the first few corners and slipped back to 13th place.
The next overtaking had to wait until the 11th lap, moreover, Lawson overtook Leclerc, who was suffering more and more, outside the track, so he had to immediately give the position back. Kimi Antonelli, on the other hand, already regularly overtook Alonso in the 13th lap. The Spaniard made a mistake in the last corner, so the young Mercedes driver passed him on the finish line without any problems.
The first three competitors were eventually waved off in starting order, Piastri was richer by eight points, Russell by seven, and Norris by six. Norris’ advantage over Piastri was thus reduced to 22 points two races before the end of the season, while the McLaren pilot increased his advantage over Verstappen to 25 points. The British rider can even win the world title on Sunday.
Order of points scorers: Piastri, Russell, Norris, Verstappen, Cunoda, Antonelli, Alonso, Sainz.
The grand prix weekend continues with qualifying on Saturday evening from 19:00, and the race on Sunday will start at 17:00.
