F1, Oscar Piastri makes Sprint his in Qatar. Norris and Verstappen limit damage, Ferrari far from the leaders

Oscar Piastri, in a McLaren, won the Qatar Sprint Race, making the most of the pole position recorded on Friday and winning eight important points in view of the World Championship. The Australian driver, who commanded the 100-kilometer race from start to finish, edged out George Russell (Mercedes) and his own teammate, overall leader Lando Norris, at the finish line.

The latter thus lost two of the twenty-four points he had a lead in the standings, just over Piastri, before today. He lost one, however, to Norris, Max Verstappen, who finished the short race in fourth place. The standings now see Norris still first at 396, Piastri second at 374 and Verstappen third at 371. There are still 50 points available, evenly split between Sunday’s long race in Lusail and the final race scheduled for next Sunday in Abu Dhabi.

Collecting points for the overall standings, placing between fifth and eighth, are also Yuki Tsunoda (Red Bull), Kimi Antonelli (Mercedes), Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) and Carlos Sainz (Williams). Badly, however, were the Ferraris: Charles Leclerc finished in thirteenth place, coming a full 35 seconds behind today’s winner, while Lewis Hamilton finished seventeenth at the checkered flag, 46 seconds behind Piastri.

The weekend’s schedule now includes qualifying for the race, to be held at 7 p.m. Italian time, and the actual race, with the lights officially going out at 5 p.m. Italian time on Sunday. That run on the Lusail circuit was the’last Sprint Race on the calendar: the next one will take place in 2026, in China, in the second round of the season.