Doha, Nov 29 (NationPress) McLaren's Oscar Piastri outperformed Mercedes' George Russell and fellow Australian Lando Norris to clinch victory in the Qatar sprint race, which unfolded over a rigorous 19 laps at the Lusail International Circuit.

Piastri launched from pole position, leading Russell and Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin, and expertly managed his tyre degradation to secure the top spot. Max Verstappen from Red Bull, a title contender, could only advance to fourth from sixth after experiencing a porpoising issue. Initially, Kimi Antonelli took fifth place, but after a five-second penalty post-race, he dropped to sixth, allowing Tsunoda to earn four points. Alonso and Carlos Sainz completed the points-paying positions in a sprint heavily influenced by tyre management and track discipline.

On Friday, Piastri achieved a flawless final lap, edging Russell by a mere 0.032 seconds for pole. Norris’ time was disqualified after he encountered gravel, relegating him behind Russell but ahead of Alonso, while Tsunoda finished in fifth.

Verstappen, typically fast in sprint qualifying, struggled in SQ3 and lost crucial track position after navigating through the gravel, ultimately finishing sixth.

After his team made changes to his car under parc ferme rules overnight, Lewis Hamilton, who was eliminated in the first quarter, had to start from the pit lane, joining others like Franco Colapinto, Pierre Gasly, and Lance Stroll who faced similar situations.

Charles Leclerc found himself in a midfield DRS train after going wide at Turn 2, dropping from ninth to thirteenth. His teammate Hamilton remained stuck in P18 following a poor pit lane start.

This season, Kick Sauber is the only team yet to score points in a sprint, as Hadjar in P9 and Alex Albon in P10 went without points, followed by Gabriel Bortoleto and Ollie Bearman. Lawson finished 14th, ahead of Esteban Ocon and Nico Hulkenberg. Other pit lane starters used the session as a testing ground, changing tyres at varying intervals.