With an outstanding racing display, Oscar Piastri from McLaren managed to grab first place at the short race of the Grand Prix in Qatar on Saturday, thus making him a triple winner at Lusail in a row and allowing the reduction of Lando Norris’ lead in the Formula One championship to 22 points. The Australian, starting from pole position, was the one to expertly handle the 19-lap race, driving 4.951 seconds ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell, while Norris took third and Verstappen fourth.
The title has hence become very close for the main event on Sunday with Norris’ 396 points, Piastri’s 374, and Verstappen’s 371. A total of 50 points left in the season means that all three are still in the race mathematically.
Piastri has been given the chance to win his first after the Dutch Grand Prix back in August. He said that the weekend had finally gone well after he had a series of problems in a row. Norris, however, commented that he had a hard time overtaking in Qatar and therefore, he had to be the best in qualifying if he was to win the championship.
Red Bull’s Yuki Tsunoda was in fifth place on the podium while the new Mercedes driver Kimi Antonelli took sixth after a penalty for crossing the track limits. Fernando Alonso finished in seventh for Aston Martin, while Carlos Sainz for Williams finished eighth.
Ferrari had another race in which they left with nothing as they could not score points, as Charles Leclerc finished the race in 13th. Lewis Hamilton, who was at the pit lane due to set-up changes and had started there, faced difficulties and ended up 17th. He admitted that the car “went in the wrong direction.”
