Oscar Piastri has taken back-to-back sprint victories at the Qatar Grand Prix after being handed victory by McLaren teammate Lando Norris at the final corner. The Australian finished just over a tenth ahead of his teammate after Norris yielded position at the final corner repaying the favour from the sprint in Sao Paulo a month ago
The two McLarens looked quick on track as they marginally pulled away from the Mercedes of George Russell, as they look to wrap up their first constructors in a quarter of a century. Norris looked to have the pace to pull away from his teammate but without team orders decided to keep Piastri in DRS range before allowing him to overtake.
Russell had tried to pass Piastri early on, but the McLaren driver fended off the Mercedes early on thanks in part to the DRS tow given by Norris, but Russell once again looked to try and pass the Melburnian, but he had more than enough to fend off the Mercedes attack. Russell also proved Mercedes had pace as he kept Carlos Sainz behind to finish three and three-quarters of a second ahead.
Russell will be hoping to challenge the McLaren’s in Grand Prix qualifying later on after narrowly missing out in sprint qualifying on Friday, made two overtaking attempts into Turn One, and each time felt Piastri had defended too late. McLaren will clinch the constructors’ title this weekend if they finish one-two in both the sprint and the grand prix and claim fastest lap in the main race on Sunday
Norris was handed victory in the Brazil sprint by Piastri to boost his title chances, which ended in Las Vegas last weekend.
He said: “I planned to do it since Brazil. It was probably a little bit sketchy – the team told me not to do it, but I did. I don’t mind. It’s only a sprint. I’m here to win Grand Prix and world championships. We scored a one-two. That’s what we were aiming for. We’re happy as a team. I probably could have pushed a little bit more than I was doing but we wanted to keep the others behind.”
Piastri said: “It was defence the whole race. Just didn’t quite have the pace. Some great team work. Without that help, it would have been a much more difficult sprint.”
Russell added, ”I understand why they did that, but nevertheless it was pretty infuriating. Nevertheless, this afternoon is the big one.”
Sainz was half a second ahead of teammate Charles Leclerc, the Monacan pulling off an impressive move at Turn One to pass incoming teammate Lewis Hamilton for fifth. Hamilton had looked to defend the inside into the next corner, but Leclerc kept his foot in and steamed around the outside to garner the upper hand into the next corner.
The seven-time champion made a lightning start, the seven-time world champion seemingly keen to make up for his disappointment post-Sprint Qualifying by overtaking Verstappen and Leclerc to move up into fifth.
Nico Hulkenberg was seventh just under two seconds ahead of Max Verstappen, the four-time champion dropped to ninth early on after battling oversteer and dropping back. But the Dutchman soon fought back to regain the final point passing Pierre Gasly at half distance, before finishing four seconds ahead of the Frenchman.
Replays showed Verstappen struggling at the start, with the new world champion reporting oversteer in his Red Bull. Teammate Perez did not look to be having a good day, either, as the Mexican found himself running at the back following his pit lane start.
Hulkenberg’s impressive sprint could be key in the fight for sixth in the constructors with Alpine and RB.
Kevin Magnussen rounded out the top ten following a brilliant start which allowed him to gain five places in the sprint. Fernando Alonso was eleventh as the Sauber of Valtteri Bottas spilt the Aston Martin’s, Bottas was four seconds behind the two-time champion and just over a second ahead of Lance Stroll. Esteban Ocon was fourteenth two and a half seconds ahead of Alex Albon.
Liam Lawson was three quarters of a second ahead of his RB teammate Yuki Tsunoda, Franco Colapinto was half second further behind. Guanyu Zhou and Perez completed the field.
