DOHA: Oscar Piastri gave his Formula One title hopes a boost on Friday by claiming pole position for the sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix.

“Nice to be back. Thanks everybody,” said Australian Piastri over the team radio.

Piastri goes into the penultimate weekend of the season 24 points behind his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris, who will start on the second row of Saturday’s sprint after qualifying in third.

“It is only the sprint, but I’ll take what I can get,” said Piastri.

“The pace was there all day, hopefully we can keep that going,” added the Australian.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen is level on points with Piastri but has work to do to keep his quest for a fifth successive title intact after only qualifying in sixth.

Piastri is joined on the front row for the 19-lap dash by the Mercedes of George Russell, with Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin alongside Norris after posting the fourth best time in qualifying.

It is an all Red Bull third row after Yuki Tsunoda out-qualified Verstappen for fifth.

Norris can claim the title if results go his way in Saturday’s sprint and Sunday’s grand prix.

There are a maximum of eight points available in the sprint and 25 in the race itself on Sunday.

Earlier, Piastri top the times ahead of Norris in opening practice session as he clocked a fastest lap in one minute and 20.924 seconds.

Published in Dawn, November 29th, 2025