Piastri dominates the Sprint Race of the Qatar GP ahead of Russell and Norris and reopens the World Championship. He is now -22 behind leader Norris, with Verstappen -25
A Friday of signals, a Saturday of certainties. Oscar Piastri he was reborn in Qatar and with the victory in the Sprint Race a World Championship that seemed headed towards reopens Lando Norris. The McLaren driver, who started from pole, did nothing wrong: perfect sprint, impeccable tire management in the first laps, controlled pace when the graining started to bite. A crescendo that allowed him to cross the finish line easily in front of George Russell and to Norris himself, now a little under pressure.
With this success, Piastri shortens in the rankings: Norris remains first on 396 points, the Australian rises to 374 and Verstappen follows on 371. A three-way World Cup that proves to be incandescentwith psychological as well as technical balances making the difference.
The Ferrari collapses
Behind the leading trio, Max Verstappen is fourthWhile Andrea Kimi Antonelli finishes fifthtaking advantage of the five-second penalty given to Tsunoda for track limits. Another good performance for the young Italian: aggressive, solid, mature in duels. The Japanese relegated to sixth, followed by Alonso and Sainz to close the points.
Bitter sprint instead for Ferrariunable for the umpteenth time to find rhythm and stability. Charles Leclercslow to start, sinks into traffic and remains a prisoner of the group: closes 13thwith an error that cost him other positions and with a car that was difficult to control. Even worse Lewis Hamilton (but now, unfortunately, it is no longer a surprise). He started from the pit lane due to changes to the set-up and was 17th at the finish line, tormented by an unstable rear and above all by lack of confidence in himself and in the car. In short, Ferrari, race after race, falls further and further back. Ago the so-called “(red) shrimp pass”and it gets sadder and sadder to watch.
The World Cup is in its final stages
The Sprint offered few emotions and many toy trains, but it confirmed one truth: the battle for the title is not over. Piastri sends a message to Norris and Verstappen: he is still a very dangerous contenderwho has regained confidence. And on the Qatar circuit, where at 7pm we return to the track for qualifyingthe games start almost from scratch. Now it’s a mental game, even before a technical one.
