Australia’s Oscar Piastri has claimed his maiden Formula 1 victory in this morning’s Qatar Grand Prix Sprint race, topping Max Verstappen in a 19-lap race interrupted by three Safety Car periods.
Second place for Verstappen sees him clinch his third consecutive world title after teammate Sergio Perez was involved in a three-car collision in the mid-stages.
Track conditions have troubled drivers all weekend, and Liam Lawson was caught out on Lap 1, triggering the race’s first caution period. Lawson, who had qualified 14th for the sprint, spun out at Turn 2 on Lap 1, stranding his AlphaTauri in the sand and forcing his retirement.
“On lap one of the Sprint race, the biggest thing was the sand offline,” said Lawson. “I had a bad start on the dirty side of the track, but then I went into Turn 1 on the racing line, had a strong corner and made up a few places.
“In Turn 2, I went offline and lost the rear very quickly. I’m massively sorry to the team, because with everything that happened in the race, we maybe could’ve scored some points today. My mistake cost us.
“The car seems okay and going into tomorrow, I’ll learn from what happened today. The tyre degradation was quite high, so it will be a tough, long race, but I’ll look at the data tonight and apply it tomorrow.”
Piastri, who had qualified on the pole, led the field off the start, while teammate Lando Norris, having also qualified on the front row, and third-placed Max Verstappen got away slowly on Medium tyres.
George Russell, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc all started on softs and immediately moved forward to put pressure on Piastri.
The race restarted on Lap 3, and Piastri was quickly rounded by Russell at Turn 6 before a second caution was called as Logan Sargeant spun off at Turn 9, also stranding.
By Lap 7, at the second restart, drivers on soft tyres were already beginning to fade, but Russell aced the launch and had built a gap of over a second before the lap even started.
He would manage that over the following laps while Verstappen worked past the Ferraris and fell back into third.
Lap 11 was when Piastri would work his way back into the lead, utilising DRS into the first corner. The timing of the move turned out to be perfect, with the third caution called moments later.
Perez, Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg entered the Turn 2 right-hander three-wide, with Ocon on the inside moving right and sandwiching Hulkenberg in the middle, with Perez on the outside spinning off into the gravel.
Ocon also went off and was forced out, while the Haas could return to the lane but retired with damage.
Piastri managed the Lap 15 restart well, with Russell on soft tyres keeping Verstappen at bay for the entire circuit, eventually dropping to third at the start of Lap 16.
By then, the Australian had built a 2.6-second lead, a gap too much for Verstappen to overcome with the time remaining.
Norris would come home third, working past the two Ferraris and then picking Russell off on the final lap for the podium.
Lewis Hamilton also managed to pass both Ferraris on the last lap to claim fifth, with Sainz left to settle for sixth and Leclerc seventh. Alex Albon was the last point scorer in eighth.
AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda came home 12th of the 15 finishing cars.
The Qatar Grand Prix begins at 6.00 am on Monday.
Heade Image: Getty Images/ Red Bull Content Pool
