McLaren’s Oscar Piastri claimed a soulless Components 1 Qatar Grand Prix dash win forward of George Russell, with Lando Norris holding off Max Verstappen to take third.
The 19-lap dash on Doha’s twisty Losail circuit was determined at the beginning, with polesitter Piastri safeguarding his lead from Russell and Norris, whereas fourth-placed Fernando Alonso misplaced out to each Crimson Bulls of Yuki Tsunoda and Verstappen.
Tsunoda then left the door open for his title contending team-mate to swoop into fourth, as Verstappen set chase on Norris. However the reigning world champion quickly began complaining of recurring bouncing and leaping points, which additionally plagued him in dash qualifying.
Both approach, there was no likelihood for Verstappen to threaten Norris, because the soiled air on Doha’s motorbike monitor ensured that vehicles would all fall away from one another, and the dearth of pitstops ensured they had been almost assured to complete within the positions they held on lap 1.
The notable exception was Alonso, who made a mistake popping out of the ultimate nook on lap 12 and noticed Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli stream previous into Flip 1, snatching away sixth.
Antonelli appeared set to be promoted to fifth after a five-second monitor limits penalty for Tsunoda, however a late monitor limits penalty for the Italian rookie reversed that impending place change. Behind seventh-placed Alonso, Williams man Carlos Sainz claimed the remaining level in eighth, simply holding off Isack Hadjar and Alex Albon.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, Liam Lawson, Racing Bulls Staff
Picture by: Lars Baron / LAT Pictures by way of Getty Pictures
Charles Leclerc misplaced out by dropping from ninth to thirteenth early on, whereas Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton was considered one of 4 vehicles to start out from the pitlane and was caught in seventeenth.
After the dash race, Norris now leads team-mate Piastri by 22 factors, with Verstappen 25 factors in arrears. It implies that a grand prix win for Norris on Sunday would safe his maiden world title.
F1 Qatar GP – Dash race outcomes
Images from Qatar GP – Dash Race
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Qatar GP – Saturday, in images
Qatar GP – Saturday, in images
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