Oscar Piastri claimed pole position for the Qatar Grand Prix Sprint as his title rivals Lando Norris and Max Verstappen had to settle for third and sixth, respectively.

Piastri produced a strong display at the Lusail International Circuit to edge out Mercedes’ George Russell for pole by just three hundredths of a second, while championship leader Norris was two tenths back after making an error on his second flying lap in SQ3.

Verstappen made an error on his first attempt at a flying lap in SQ3 and was then outpaced by Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso and his Red Bull team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, who outqualified the Dutchman for the first time this season.

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Norris is 24 points clear of both his McLaren team-mate Piastri and Red Bull’s Verstappen going into Saturday’s Sprint at the penultimate round of the season, and will seal the title on Sunday if he is at least 26 points ahead in the standings.

Lewis Hamilton’s disappointing debut campaign with Ferrari continued as the seven-time world champion made a tame exit in SQ1 that leaves him starting 18th on the grid.

Having qualified last in Las Vegas a week earlier, Hamilton once more lacked pace and was barely willing to speak in his post-session interview as he uttered a total of just nine words in response to a series of questions.

Piastri: Good day is nice for a change!

Piastri’s performance, which followed him topping the weekend’s sole practice session earlier on Friday, ended a poor run of qualifying form that had seen him outpaced by Norris over one lap on six successive occasions.

The Australian was the clear favourite for the title when he led Norris by 34 points after the Dutch Grand Prix in August, but a run of six successive grands prix without a podium have left him with what he described on Thursday as just an “outside shot” of catching his team-mate.

After reigniting his hopes on Friday, Piastri said: “It has been a good day, which is nice for a change. Things clicked from the start, so thanks to the team. It has looked good this weekend so far.

“There are a few things to tidy up, which is nice to say on pole. It’s only Sprint pole but I will take whatever I can get.

“Sprint weekends are tough to know if you are fully on top of things but it felt good all day and we made good adjustments before Qualifying. The pace was there all day.”

Norris bemoans mistake after heated radio exchange

Norris has been on a superb run of form and would have had the title all but sewn up had it not been for both McLarens being disqualified from the Las Vegas Grand Prix for excessive plank wear.

The Brit remains very much in control of his own destiny and was closely matched with Piastri throughout Friday before sloppiness cost him in the final part of qualifying.

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Norris was behind Piastri after their first runs as a result of an error at the final corner, and then strangely allowed Alex Albon to pass him as they prepared for their second runs with the clock ticking down, which left him contending with the dirty air coming from the Williams.

Norris initially appeared to criticise his team for not leaving him enough time, but then accepted responsibility as his engineer Will Joseph questioned why he had let Albon past.

Norris said: “The pace was there but I made a mistake in the last corner. I just didn’t put it together.”

On his prospects for the Sprint, he added: “I would be stupid not to try and win but it is impossible to overtake so I think I will probably finish P3. Getting past George Russell on the line is probably the best I can hope for.”

Verstappen ‘trying to survive’ after frustrating Friday

Verstappen arrived in Qatar with plenty of momentum having made major gains by winning in Vegas, but he was never able to get on top of his setup on Friday.

Frustrations he had aired in practice carried over to Sprint Qualifying as he lost his cool over the radio when complaining about his car “bouncing like an idiot”.

Despite those struggles, he finished SQ2 within a tenth of both McLarens and appeared to still be in the mix for pole, or at least a second-row grid position.

Instead, he ran off track during his first flying lap in SQ3 and had to abort it, which would force him to take a more conservative approach with his second effort.

Slipping behind Tsunoda meant Verstappen was outqualified by his team-mate for the first time since Sergio Perez bettered him at the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

Verstappen said: “Not good from the first lap. Just really bad bouncing and very aggressive understeer that would shift into oversteer at high speed.

“Just not what you want to go fast. We were locked in. We tried to change a few things on the wheel but it never really worked, so it made it quite tricky. We changed a few things but it wasn’t working well, so it’s something we need to understand.”

On his chances in Saturday’s Sprint, he added: “With this balance, it will not be a lot of fun. It will be more about trying to survive I guess and make some changes going into qualifying.”

Sky Sports F1’s Qatar GP schedule

Saturday November 29
1pm: Qatar GP Sprint build-up*
2pm: QATAR GP SPRINT*
3.30pm: Ted’s Sprint Notebook*
4.15pm: F2 Sprint
5.15pm: Qatar GP Qualifying build-up
6pm: QATAR GP QUALIFYING
8pm: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook

Sunday November 30
11.55am: F2 Feature
2.30pm: Grand Prix Sunday: Qatar GP build-up
4pm: THE QATAR GRAND PRIX
6pm: Chequered Flag: Qatar GP reaction
7pm: Ted’s Notebook

*also on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1’s season-ending triple header continues with the Qatar Grand Prix Sprint weekend live on Sky Sports F1 from Friday. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime