F1 Qualifying Results: Oscar Piastri outshines Lando Norris in McLaren title fight twist at Qatar Grand Prix

Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris — Photo: © IMAGO

Formula 1

F1 Qualifying Results: Piastri outshines Norris in McLaren title fight twist at Qatar Grand Prix

The results from F1 qualifying at the 2025 Qatar GP.

Originally written by Kerry Violet. This version is a translation.

Saturday 29 November 2025 20:53

F1 star Oscar Piastri outshone his McLaren team-mate Lando Norris during qualifying for the Qatar Grand Prix on Saturday.

The Aussie driver continued his positive weekend at the Lusail International Circuit having already picked up the sprint pole position on Friday and the sprint race win on Saturday.

Piastri previously led the championship for 15 rounds of the 2025 season, but his form has taken a hit in recent months as Norris' chances of claiming this year's championship grew.

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But the title fight has taken an interesting twist this weekend and if Norris fails to outscore Piastri in Sunday's race, the title fight could rumble on to the season final in Abu Dhabi.

As Piastri took pole position for the 2025 Qatar GP, he will have the advantage over Norris on Sunday, but his team-mate will line up on the front row alongside him.

Russell's team-mate Kimi Antonelli finished qualifying in P5.

F1 legend Lewis Hamilton was ruled out of a competitive starting position for Sunday's race early on after failing to make it out of Q1, and his team-mate Charles Leclerc suffered a big spin in the final stage of Saturday's session.

The session was briefly red-flagged after Leclerc's shaky moment and a bizarre problem for Carlos Sainz where a plastic sticker got stuck under the wheel of his Williams.

The session resumed at 10pm local time (AST) but the mistake for Leclerc proved costly as the Ferrari star only managed to qualify tenth-fastest.

Here are the full results from the Qatar GP qualifying.

Position	Driver	Team	Time/Status
1	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:19.387
2	Lando Norris	McLaren	+0.108
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull	+0.264
4	George Russell	Mercedes	+0.275
5	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+0.459
6	Isack Hadjar	Racing Bulls	+0.727
7	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+0.900
8	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+1.031
9	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+1.090
10	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+1.174
11	Nico Hulkenberg	Kick Sauber	OUT IN Q2
12	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	OUT IN Q2
13	Oliver Bearman	Haas	OUT IN Q2
14	Gabriel Bortoleto	Kick Sauber	OUT IN Q2
15	Alex Albon	Williams	OUT IN Q2
16	Yuki Tsunoda	Red Bull	OUT IN Q1
17	Esteban Ocon	Haas	OUT IN Q1
18	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	OUT IN Q1
19	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	OUT IN Q1
20	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	OUT IN Q1

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.

Written by

Kerry Violet - F1 News Editor

Having graduated from the University of Sheffield with a 2:1 in Journalism in 2022, Kerry continued her pursuit of finding a full-time position in motorsport through work with the F1 Arcade in London, where she got to meet true fans of the sport and make a live grand prix watch party memorable for them. It was here that she confirmed her dream of combining her background in journalism and love of motorsport, going on to volunteer with the female-led platform Empoword Journalism. Having completed stints as a screen editor and sports editor, Kerry landed her first F1-specific editorial role with GPFans and has thoroughly enjoyed continuing to work closely with the sport ever since. The access GPFans offers Kerry has allowed her to interview big names such as Naomi Schiff and David Coulthard and given her experiences she could only have dreamt of as a young F1 fan.

View full biography

F1 Qatar Grand Prix