Oscar Piastri takes Qatar Grand Prix pole as Lando Norris makes error on final lap

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Oscar Piastri will start the Qatar Grand Prix from pole position after snatching the front spot from his McLaren teammate Lando Norris.

The penultimate qualifying session of the 2025 season started with Alex Albon noted for an unsafe release, with the Williams coming out of the garage ahead of Esteban Ocon.

Early laps saw Piastri top the timing sheets from George Russell and Fernando Alonso, with Lando Norris finding himself down in P8.

Both Ferraris’ first runs kept both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton in the drop zone for the first part of qualifying.

The Maranello-based team have significantly struggled around the Lusail International Circuit all weekend, although it did appear to be better balanced for the Saturday evening session.

A second run proved more fruitful for Leclerc and Hamilton, who pulled themselves back up into the top ten.

Max Verstappen was still unhappy with the set-up of his Red Bull, having complained about the car for most of the weekend. The Dutchman, who is joint on points with Piastri in championship fight, needs a strong result this weekend if he wants to remain in title contention.

It was a disappointing end to Q1 for Hamilton, who found himself out in the first part of qualifying for the second weekend in a row. The seven-time world champion previously admitted that 2025 was his ‘worst season’ in Formula 1, as he sits 6th in the championship standings.

After losing Yuki Tsunoda in Q1, after a strong Sprint qualifying yesterday, Red Bull tried a new strategy with Verstappen in the middle part of qualifying. The team sent the Dutchman out on two warm-up laps before starting the flying time to see if this could get his tyres into a more optimal window.

He initially went top of the timings before McLaren’s laps, with Piastri jumping Verstappen by nearly half a second. Norris was unable to catch Verstappen with his first flying lap, finding himself in third before his time was deleted for track limits.

Leclerc continued to fight his Ferrari in Q2, losing the rear of his car once again and ruining a set of brand new tyres.

With just minutes remaining in the middle part of qualifying, Norris was yet to set a time, adding to pressure on the McLaren driver in a crucial weekend for where he could take the 2025 title in Qatar.

Pierre Gasly was able to pull his Alpine through into the final part of qualifying for the tenth time this year and his third in a row. Both Alpines qualified on the back row for Qatar’s Sprint race, so it was an incredible turnaround for the team.

Norris was able to put his first flying lap together, to set a time of 1:19.495 as the pace from McLaren seemed unbeatable. Piastri’s first attempt saw him three-hundredths of a second behind his teammate with Russell and Verstappen unable to match the pace.

Leclerc’s first flying lap ended in disappointment as he went for a high-speed spin across the track. The Ferrari driver has been fortunate to catch the car when he’s lost grip all weekend, with the spin feeling almost inevitable.

After a brief red flag, after Carlos Sainz was allowed onto the track with a sticker on his tyre, the final flying laps got underway with just minutes to spare.

Norris went out first for the final flying laps, but a mistake at Turn 2, saw him run wide, which ended the lap early. The McLaren wasn’t fueled for a second lap, seeing his provisional pole at risk.

Luckily for the championship contender, only his teammate Piastri could match the pace of his first lap, leapfrogging him to pole position.