Breaking News
Smart McLaren work together to extend F1 Championship lead in Qatar sprint
Oscar Piastri has won the 2024 sprint race in Qatar, with Lando Norris returning the favour by gifting his teammate the win. Norris led from start to finish and helped his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri in the process by giving him DRS. This aided Piastri in his defence on Russell. As a result, McLaren maximised and extended their lead in the Constructors' Championship over Ferrari.
Piastri handed Norris a victory in the Brazil sprint race, and the British driver returned the favour with a late overtake in the final part. Russell's duel with Piastri went down to the last lap, but the Australian held on. Russell crossed the finish line in third, followed by the two Ferrari drivers. Lewis Hamilton finished sixth, with seventh-placed Nico Hulkenberg one place ahead of World Champion Max Verstappen.
What happened during the sprint race in Qatar?
Norris took a clean sweep of all the sprint qualifying sessions to dominate Friday evening in Qatar, taking P1 to start the sprint race on pole. Russell was able to find some extra pace on his final lap to steal P2 away from Norris' teammate Oscar Piastri, who rounded out the front three. McLaren took the initiative, showing their strength in Qatar over Ferrari as they look to increase their lead before the season final in Abu Dhabi. The two Ferrari cars rounded out the top five on the grid. All of the front runners started on used mediums.
Oscar Piastri attacked in the first sequence of corners and successfully overtook Russell. Norris created a gap of one second after just one lap. Verstappen dropped three places on the opening lap. Liam Lawson dropped seven places, and Sergio Perez was overtaken by Franco Colapinto.
The Mexican failed to get a good result in qualifying, and Red Bull later changed his car during Parc Ferme conditions. This resulted in a pit lane start for Perez, along with Colapinto. Perez was ahead at the end of the pitlane. When the green light came on, Perez didn't seem to be in a rush to move away and was caught snoozing.
He lost precious time. Colapinto, who is in his first Formula 1 season, opted to overtake him and get on with the sprint race. Perez has a contract with Red Bull Racing for the 2025 season, but there is doubt about his future due to his current performances. Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, at VCARB, are leading candidates to replace the Mexican if Red Bull opt to make the change. Red Bull are also rumoured to be interested in Colapinto.
Russell moved closer to Piastri but unsuccessfully attacked the Australian. The Brit wasn't happy with Piastri's actions and claimed he "turned in on him". Norris closed the gap to allow Piastri to take DRS and help him in the fight against Russell.
Towards the end, future teammates Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton engaged in a duel on the track. Leclerc got the better of the seven-time world champion and moved into 5th.