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lando norris Failed to complete his last lap in qualifying for Sunday’s decider Queue Grand Prix permission f1 championship rival oscar piastri To take pole position.
Norris, who will start with them mclaren The team-mates held a narrow lead heading into the decisive closing stages of the final round of the campaign in Doha.
But the British driver made a mistake when he ran the wrong way at the second corner, and was forced to abort, giving Piastri the chance to grab him at the top of the order.
Here Piastri, winner of the previous sprint race, which had taken him to within 22 points of Norris’s lead and still had 50 points to play for, did not waste his chance and won pole by 0.108 seconds. max verstappen Starts from third place to ensure he remains in the title race.
Norris World champion will be crowned on Sunday If he does he overtakes Piastri by four points and Verstappen by one point.
Norris was already showing signs of nervousness when he noticed he had three consecutive laps removed in Q2 for driving all four wheels. mclaren Above the white lines on turn 10.
This left him struggling to make the final stage, which he completed on time, albeit two tenths slower than his team-mate.
He returned for Q3 and posted an impressive marker which left him just 0.035 seconds ahead of Piastri, while Verstappen was four tenths behind.
After an anxious five-minute wait for Norris, the session was thrown into disarray when a strange piece of plastic broke off Carlos Sainz’s Williams.
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Norris was the first championship contender to take to the track, but lost his lap within the first two corners and was unable to improve.
Top-10 – Qatar GP Qualifying
1. Oscar Piastri – McLaren
2. Lando Norris – McLaren
3. Max Verstappen – Red Bull
4. George Russell – Mercedes
5. Kimi Antonelli – Mercedes
6. Isak Hadjar – Racing Bulls
7. Carlos Sainz – Williams
8. Fernando Alonso – Aston Martin
9. Pierre Gasly – Alpine
10. Charles Leclerc – Ferrari
Piastri took the top position and Verstappen also improved on his early run, although finishing almost three tenths behind Piastri.
After finishing third in the first sprint to extend his lead over Verstappen to 25 points, Norris hit back at his rival claiming he would have already easily won the title had he been driving. mclaren,
In response to Verstappen’s jibe, Norris said, “Max generally has a good knowledge of a lot of things, but there are also a lot of things he doesn’t know much about.”
“But it’s also Red Bull’s way of doing things, an aggressive nature and just talking nonsense most of the time. Maybe he would have done it (win the title easily) but he hasn’t done it yet.”
And it is Norris, despite missing the chance to take pole, who is just 24 hours away from dethroning the Dutchman without facing a season-final shootout in Abu Dhabi next weekend.
It was Groundhog Day for Hamilton after suffering a hat-trick of Q1 eliminations.
Twentieth and last in Las Vegas a week earlier, 18th for the Saturday Sprint and 18th again for the Sunday Main Event.
It’s a frustrating time for the seven-time world champion, whose first season at Ferrari is going from bad to worse.
Like qualifying for the sprint, Hamilton was as close as four tenths and nine tenths off the pace of Charles Leclerc in the other Ferraris. george russellWho led in Q1.
Leclerc managed to take his Ferrari into Q3 and will start in 10th position, eight places ahead of Hamilton.
Leclerc has now knocked out Hamilton in 18 out of 23 rounds. Hamilton will start alongside only Lance Stroll and Franco Colapinto and looks set to end his rookie season in red without a single podium finish.