Oscar Piastri stood out in Qatar: pole for the sprint race

The Australian was the best on the first day of the penultimate F1 date and will start in the lead in the short race. Lando Norris failed and took third. Max Verstappen, far from sixth place.

““It’s good to be back,” Oscar Piastri tells his track engineer as soon as he is informed that he had pole position for the Qatar sprint, the 23rd and penultimate date of the 76th F1 season. The Australian had come to enjoy a 34-point lead over his teammate Lando Norris after the Netherlands GP. From there, the Melbourne team went into a deep decline and since then it has barely added 57 points, with only one podium (Monza). It is true that Las Vegas ended in zero due to technical exclusion, but his firm walk and his granite mentality had crumbled.

From McLaren they had to give public explanations to try to clear themselves of blame for the decline. Even Bernie Ecclestone, former F1 boss, had publicly declared that McLaren had chosen Norris. Andrea Stella, director of the Woking team, said that the problem arose due to the problems that Piastri faces on the track with little grip, That caused his performance to drop. He lost so much ground that upon arriving at Lusail there was a meeting among McLaren’s troops to clarify the situation. After Las Vegas, Norris left with 24 points of light over Piastri and the great cuckoo, Max Verstappen. At the rally, as confirmed by the Australian, there was talk of the chance of everyone rallying behind the consecration of the Englishman. Oscar refused, McLaren accepted it and the fight remained to be settled on the track.

Of course, Piastri had the obligation to be quick from the start. A bad Friday in Qatar, added to a possible good position for Verstappen, could quickly distort the decision to give freedom. And the one from Melbourne was relentless: he dominated training and qualifying for the sprint, without making any mistakes. Thus, with his chest inflated and his dream of being a champion intact, he will start Saturday’s short race in the lead. It is not the most important moment, there is no doubt, because there will only be eight units at stake, but if he were to finish behind Lando in the short race classification, his chance would have been definitively archived.

Piastri had external collaboration. Because Norris, in a key and hot moment, failed. One more time. Lando’s weaknesses always appeared in those defining moments. They seemed to have been forgotten after their sensational steps through Mexico and São Paulo. But they returned at the start in Las Vegas, when from pole he became so worried about Verstappen that he got lost in the first corner. And in qualifying for the Qatar sprint, he went out in the last variant and thus lost the chance, not only of pole, but also of occupying a place in the front row.. The Briton was third, behind George Russell, a possible referee in the fight for the crown in a great moment for Mercedes.

And Max? It’s human. Yes, he was wrong. Beyond the complaints for driving a rearing Red Bull, he got lost in his first attempt at SQ3, punished the bottom of the RB21 and in his final attempt, as best he could, he was only sixth. Just on a weekend in which Yuki Tsunoda appeared, an ally that Verstappen needs very urgently to try to extend his dream of the fifth crown. The Japanese beat the four-time champion in a qualy for the first time this year and, according to information that emerged in Qatar, he was fighting with Liam Lawson for a Racing Bulls (Isack Hadjar would be promoted to the main team) and was fifth. There is no doubt that good old Yuki will let the Dutchman pass, but the lack of performance of the RB21 seen on the first day of Qatar puts in check the chance of ending in an epic comeback that seemed impossible after having been 104 points behind Piastri in the Netherlands.

The sprint table has as its main menu the three who fight for the title. But, around, there are those who want to make a move and achieve some joy before the end of the year, like Fernando Alonso, who placed fourth with the Aston Martin. For the sprint party, the invitation did not reach Maranello. Charles Leclerc stood out with ninth place, but to find Lewis Hamilton you have to go up to 18th place. The Englishman’s performance is, at this point, very poor.