The Australian from McLaren precedes Russell and his teammate Norris. Sixth place for Verstappen, very angry with the garage due to his car bouncing
Night falls on Friday in Doha, Qatar, where sprint qualifying concluded in view of tomorrow’s short race in the penultimate Formula 1 weekend of the season. A Friday that smiled on Oscar Piastri, reborn after several difficult weekends that saw him lose the championship leadership to teammate Lando Norris.
redemption of plates
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The Australian, currently 24 points behind the top of the standings, returns to take first place in qualifying and does so putting George Russell’s Mercedes and the other McLaren, that of the British Norris, behind him. Max Verstappen was in much more trouble, only sixth and thus called upon to make a comeback in the sprint race to keep the World Championship alive. The Dutchman opened up several times on the radio, very angry, due to the bouncing of his car, a condition that put him in great difficulty in a more nervous car than that of his teammate Yuki Tsunoda, fifth at the end of the sprint qualifying. Fernando Alonso was excellent, fourth at the finish line with Aston Martin, also ahead of Kimi Antonelli’s Mercedes, seventh, the Williams of Carlos Sainz (eighth) and Alex Albon (tenth) and the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc, only ninth at the finish line. A qualification that began immediately with a first twist, given by the elimination in SQ1 of Lewis Hamilton who will start the sprint race in eighteenth place. Definitely a day to forget for the Red team which at the end of the season will try to regain important positions in a constructors’ ranking which currently sees the Maranello team in fourth place, but which in these conditions risks extending the distances with Mercedes and Red Bull instead of shortening them.
hamilton and the others
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In addition to Lewis Hamilton, the two Alpines of Pierre Gasly (19th) and Franco Colapinto (20th), the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson (18th) and the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll (17th) were also eliminated in the first part of qualifying. There was also a surprise in SQ2 with the exclusion of Isack Hadjar due to the track limits of the track, which led to the elimination of the best time obtained with his Racing Bulls (which is why he will start 11th tomorrow) and the reintroduction of the Italian Kimi Antonelli, eleventh before the cancellation of the Frenchman’s time. The nineteen-year-old from Bologna, who thus entered SQ3, had the opportunity to complete the session and climb to seventh place, where he will start the sprint tomorrow, scheduled for 3pm.
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