Formula 1

Piastri bags vital pole ahead of Norris and Verstappen for Qatar GP

Motorsport Technology
2 weeks ago
4 min read

Oscar Piastri bagged a vital pole position ahead of a race that he must surely win in the penultimate grand prix of the 2025 F1 season.

The Australian driver set a mark of 1m19.387s to edge out Norris and other title contender Max Verstappen for the grid positions come Sunday.

Piastri, who held a commanding points lead after the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort, has seen his lead dissipate alarmingly since then. Having won Saturday’s Spring race, he still trails McLaren teammate Lando Norris by 22 points.

“We made a few minor tweaks here and there, but the car felt great all weekend and if it ain’t broke don’t fix it so the team did a pretty good job,” commented Piastri on Sky Sports F1’s broadcast after stepping from the car.

“Had a bit of a question mark over which tyres to use but did a quick lap on the used set in Q2 and that threw a bit of a spanner in the works because we didn’t expect it to be so good. And Q3 was pretty good on the new, so pretty happy.”

For Norris, it’s not an unusual position. And all the Englishman realistically needs to do, and will surely take come the chequered flag, is to keep out of trouble and take another podium finish after the disappointment of disqualification in Las Vegas.

“I just got a bit of understeer and was going to go off so had to abort, which is a shame but that’s the way it is,” commented Norris on his second Q3 attempt. “Oscar did a good lap and drove very well and has been driving well all weekend so nothing to complain about. Just didn’t do the lap, so P2 tomorrow.

“The first couple of laps there is always opportunities for everyone, but after there I think it’s going to be pretty straightforward for everyone too.”

Make no mistake about it, Norris will certainly be keeping a sharp eye in his wing mirrors when the lights go out on Sunday.

When the bravado stops and the talking finishes, a certain Verstappen will be looming larger than ever. A man who has been there and done it the last four years.

“I think this qualifying was a little bit better although I think we are still quite fart off,” said a surely guarded Verstappen. “Still I was a little bit happier but some limitations that don’t allow us to push harder around the lap.

“At least we are still P3 and we are starting on the second row and creates better opportunities because we know that it’s quite hard to pass around here so we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.

“Realistically it’s been tough this weekend. Not been what I wanted it to be but we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”

As for the race, Piastri still thinks there will be much to do in order to keep Norris at bay due to the many variables that could come into play.

“Pretty tough, and I think with the two stops as well and the lap limits, we’re probably going to be pushing pretty hard,” he added.

“I don’t think it’s going to be as hot as a couple of years ago so probably not as bad as that so I expect it to be a pretty tough race. We’re puling an insane amount of G-Force around here multiple times a lap, so it’s hard work but incredibly fun.”

Motorsport Technology

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