How would you characterise Max Verstappen? McLaren’s CEO, Zak Brown, sees him as something out of Halloween, the way that the Red Bull driver has come back into the championship race after being left for dead. The American has told Sky: “He is like that guy in the horror movie who you think is down and then suddenly it’s: ‘Where did he come from?!’ He is an immense talent, as good as anyone we have ever seen. I think we have to ignore him, we can’t control what he does.”
Meanwhile Lewis Hamilton has been reflecting on another bad afternoon, Reuters reports. He started the sprint from the pit lane and finished 17th, while his teammate Charles Leclerc came 13th after dropping back from ninth.
“I don’t know how we made the car worse,” Ferrari’s British driver said. “We started from the pit lane because we wanted to explore and make some changes. They had some things they found on the simulator last night. So we implemented those changes and the car was really in the wrong direction and very, very difficult for whatever reason, clearly for both of us.”
Norris says Verstappen 'doesn't have much of a clue' about McLaren
Right, half an hour to go till qualifying. Things have got a little spicy since the sprint race, with Lando Norris hitting back at Max Verstappen’s dig in the week that he would have won the world championship easily for McLaren, the Briton claiming there are things his rival “doesn’t have much of a clue about”, the PA reports:
Responding to Verstappen’s jibe, Norris said: “Max is very welcome to say everything he wants. He has kind of earned the right because he has won four world championships. I have a lot of respect, and he has achieved an incredible amount – more than anyone could dream of achieving – and that gives anyone credit.
“He generally has a good clue about a lot of things, but there is also a lot of things he doesn’t have much of a clue about.
“But it is also Red Bull’s way of going about things, an aggressive nature and just talking nonsense a lot of the time. It depends if you want to listen to it and talk about it he like he would love you to do, or do what we do as a team which is keeping our heads down and stay focused.
“Maybe he would have done [won the title easily] but he hasn’t done so far.”
Qualifying preamble
Scores on the doors from the sprint race were that Oscar Piastri took two points out of Lando Norris’s lead, reducing it to 22, while the Briton added one to his advantage over Max Verstappen, taking it to 25. Of greater significance, perhaps, is that the McLaren duo and George Russell, in second, started where they finished. Which, apart from meaning this preamble has referenced The Generation Game and Mastermind, is indicative of how hard it is to overtake at the Lusail Circuit.
Verstappen advanced from sixth to fourth but, given one of the two places was that of his Red Bull teammate Yuki Tsunoda, only his getting past Fernando Alonso really counts as an overtake, and that was on lap one. Charles Leclerc started in ninth but lost four places on lap one – and finished 13th. There is no getting away from how important qualifying is here, followed by that run down to the first corner.
Piastri will be lifted by the return to the podium after seven races and the top step after eight. He also seemed to have the best setup of the two McLarens. But Norris made one mistake in sprint qualifying and if he can avoid that then pole is within his compass. Verstappen looked happier with his sprint run than with the qualifying for it but it’s very much advantage McLaren.
The dream scenario for Norris? That he takes pole and Russell goes second quickest, introducing a buffer between him and his title rivals in the run down to the first corner for Sunday’s race.
Q1 gets under way at 6pm GMT, 9pm Doha time. Join me for the buildup from 5.30pm.
Piastri wins sprint race and Norris holds off Verstappen to boost McLaren
Oscar Piastri won the Qatar Grand Prix sprint with a dominant drive for McLaren. With the championship leader, Lando Norris, in third, it was a vital boost to the Australian’s title ambitions. The third contender, Max Verstappen, took fourth place, dropping a point to Norris. Mercedes’s George Russell was second. Yuki Tsunoda was fifth for Red Bull despite a track limits penalty, after Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli also picked one up and had to settle for sixth.
With victory in the 19-lap dash, Piastri has narrowed the gap to Norris by two points to 22, while Verstappen has fallen one point further behind to 25 in arrears.
Norris’s task remains the same if he is to seal the championship on Sunday. He must be 26 points ahead of both Piastri and Verstappen if he does not win the race or 25 ahead if he does take victory. If either of his rivals are closer than that margin then the title will be decided at the final round of the season in Abu Dhabi. A win in the race would be enough for Norris regardless of any other results.
It is the Australian’s third sprint win, with Piastri having taken all three at the Qatar GP. The victory was the very least he required to keep his title hopes alive and to reassert himself after a period of underperforming, having led with such calm assurance for so long this season. It is the first race he has won since the Dutch GP in August, albeit the short-form version.
The start was crucial and Piastri held his lead from the off with Norris just hanging on to third as he was pressured hard by Yuki Tsunoda in the Red Bull. He held on and Tsunoda, as expected, swiftly then ceded fourth to his teammate Verstappen.
Piastri had good pace from the off out front as Verstappen threw himself at Norris, closing hard by lap three. Norris held him off, however, and with the initial charge on fresh tyres over, he put a solid two seconds on the Dutchman. It was the last real moment of any drama at the sharp end.
The front four then remained circulating line astern, managing the gaps to one another and their rubber, so often a feature of the more pedestrian sprint race, especially on a circuit where overtaking is difficult.
Piastri held his lead to the flag, without putting a foot wrong across the race. He must now do so again on Sunday to maintain the pressure on his teammate.
Lewis Hamilton toiled for little reward after starting from 18th in the pit lane after a poor qualifying and finished in 17th place for Ferrari.
Qualifying for Sunday’s race will take place later on Saturday evening and Pirelli has limited the use of tyres for the GP to a 25-lap stint, making the 57-lap contest a mandatory two-stop as a precaution against punctures.
However, after Friday’s running the tyre manufacturer also expressed concern that gravel drawn on to the track by cars running wide was causing some deep cuts in the tyres. It may require the use of a safety car or red flags to clean the track of gravel debris.
Updated
Giles Richards’ report from Qatar will be here shortly, and I’ll be back from 5.30 for qualifying.
Novak Djokovic on trophy duty – and that’s my lot for now.
Updated
“Our base performance around here is very good, so it’s more about tuning,” says Piastri.
Updated
“George is doing a very good job but the team has given us a very good car,” Norris adds.
“I never saw him,” Norris says of Verstappen. He predicts a tough race – not easy to pass. Which just adds to the pressure for qualifying.
“Those last two laps was a real struggle,” says Russell.
“It’s been a good weekend so far, everything went smoothly,” says Piastri.
Updated
Verstappen may be happy but McLaren are delighted. Both drivers held their own and that’s all they need.
Verstappen looks quite happy. His car certainly performed better than it did in qualifying.
Ultimately it was more about laps than drama. What will everyone have learned for qualifying?
Antonelli does seem to have got a five-second penalty. Which negates Tsunoda’s.
Russell says his front left would have been in trouble had there been another couple of laps.
Updated
Piastri’s first podium since Monza in early September – and, as mentioned at the start, a hat-trick of sprint wins in Qatar.
Updated
Which means Norris leads Piastri by 22 points and Verstappen by 25, I think.
Key event
1. Piastri. 2. Russell. 3. Norris. 4. Verstappen.
Updated
Piastri cruising home. Norris warned by the team not to risk track limits.
Gravel is looking as though it could be a big factor tomorrow, putting drivers at risk of slow punctures. Not sure I would fancy getting a broom out during the race.
Piastri is almost there. Very little has changed at the business end, but now Antonelli is at risk of a track-limits penalty.
Antonelli is up to sixth for Mercedes. On time he is fifth, though, because of Tsunoda’s penalty. Russell ahead of Verstappen, Antonelli in effect ahead of Tsunoda: Mercedes stretching their advantage over Red Bull by three points.
Updated
Stroll pits. Tyre change, to the softs. Using it as test session.
Tsunoda gets a five-second time penalty for breaching track limits.
At this stage we have no idea how the contenders will line up for tomorrow’s grid. But bearing in mind Verstappen’s fade, this is looking like good news for McLaren. If he can’t sustain pressure then the title could be down to Norris v Piastri.
It’s looking very smooth for Piastri. But it’s getting windy and drivers are breaching track limits. Could this be a factor tomorrow?
Updated
We are approaching halfway.
But Norris has pulled clear of Verstappen for now. As Croft and Brundle keep repeating, third, third, third and Norris will be champion in Abu Dhabi. But can you really do that? Nick Faldo won the 1987 Open with 18 straight pars in the final round …
Updated
Norris has lost DRS but Verstappen still too far back.
A bad day for Ferrari: Charles Leclerc lost four places at the start and is down in 13th. The team’s chances of overtaking Red Bull in the constructors’ standings are diminishing.
Verstappen knows he has no danger behind him, with Tsunoda in fifth ahead of Alonso.
Updated
Norris has got close enough to Russell and that helps him stay clear.
Norris needs to get close enough to Russell to get his own DRS. Trains are his friends.
Verstappen closes on Norris at turn one but can’t get past.
Updated
Piastri has pulled out a second on Russell so is safe from DRS. The key time is the one between Norris and Verstappen.
Updated
Verstappen got past Tsunoda and Fernando Alonso.
Lights out! Piastri away well, Russell, Norris to the first corner but Verstappen moves up to fourth.
Updated
Martin Brundle is worried by gravel: there’s a lot of it about and it could threaten the medium tyres.
Formation lap time.
We have 19 laps of the longest circuit in F1, David Croft reminds us.
The countdown is on.
One point in Verstappen’s favour: his teammate Yuki Tsunoda is ahead of him by one place. He is unlikely to mess with Red Bull’s main man.
Sky interviewing Sky now: Gary Neville is with Mercedes.
Karun Chandhok is jumping ahead to 2026, interviewing Adrian Newey about his stepping up to Aston Martin team principal.
Updated
There are only 16 cars on the grid. It was another bad qualifying for Lewis Hamilton: after coming 20th and last in Las Vegas, leading to an eighth-place finish in the grand prix, he failed to make it out of Q1 again on Friday. Ferrari have consequently made changes to his setup and so he will start from the pit lane.
Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and the Alpine duo of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto are all doing likewise.
“We take the learning for tomorrow,” says Isack Hadjar, 11th on the grid. There will be a lot of that.
It’s not all about the drivers’ title: McLaren have run away with the constructors’ gong but Mercedes, with a 40-point lead over Red Bull, will be hoping to seal second place this weekend. Russell can help them achieve that from second place, and Kimi Antonelli will start just behind Verstappen.
Piastri won that day – as he did last year, too. McLaren’s Australian is going for a hat-trick.
Right, just over 20 minutes to go till the sprint race gets under way. Barring disaster, it’s greatest value is as an indication of what is to come, rather than significant in its own right, with only eight points available to the winner. Mind you, second place here was enough for Verstappen to become champion two years ago:
Preamble
Philip will be here shortly to take you through today’s sprint race (2pm GMT) and qualifying (6pm).
