F1 Sprint Qualifying Today: Piastri secures crucial pole as Tsunoda BEATS Verstappen at Qatar GP

Oscar Piastri came roaring back to form on Friday night in Lusail, putting himself on pole position for Saturday's F1 sprint race ahead of his championship rivals.

The Australian will be joined on the front row by George Russell, with team-mate Lando Norris in third and Max Verstappen all the way down in sixth – behind Yuki Tsunoda, for the first time in 25 sprint and grand prix qualifying sessions this year.

Verstappen's disappointing qualifying spot stemmed in part from a mishap on his first flying lap, going off track at Turn 4 and left with all the work to do on his last attempt.

Earlier, Lewis Hamilton was knocked out of qualifying for the sprint in SQ1, as his miserable first season at Ferrari draws to a close.

Saturday's sprint race promises to be an excellent indicator of pace ahead of Sunday's grand prix, but the smattering of points on offer in the Saturday shootout means that it holds a much deeper significance than simply a test run.

Norris needs to outscore Verstappen and Piastri by two points this weekend to wrap up the title, with eight points on Saturday a great start to that goal.

F1 Sprint Qualifying Results: Qatar Grand Prix 2025

How does F1 Qualifying work?

The qualifying session is split into three finite windows, which provide a dramatic prelude to Sunday's race.

The bottom five drivers are eliminated at the end of Q1, with a further five eliminated after Q2.

Then, Q3 gives us a shootout between the remaining 10 drivers in the battle for positions at the front of the grid.

F1 HEADLINES: Lando Norris 'embarrassed' as Red Bull 'laugh' at McLaren team orders

Related

More F1 news

Latest F1 news

F1 News Today: Christian Horner saved Red Bull and why Verstappen didn't sign for McLaren

• Yesterday 16:55

Kimi Antonelli set to star alongside Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck in iconic Disney comic book

• 1 hour ago

American F1 team has a huge cost cap issue, and it's finally time to sell up

• 2 hours ago

Fernando Alonso and Adrian Newey hold 'deep talks' at Aston Martin HQ with future uncertain

• 3 hours ago

'Move over Charles' - F1 insider pitches genius idea to take team radio to a whole new level

• Yesterday 19:43

Mercedes confirm major George Russell penalty for upcoming race

• Yesterday 18:45