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Oscar Piastri managed to narrow the gap to his McLaren teammate Lando Norris in the championship standings by two points after winning the sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix. Piastri maintained the lead throughout the relatively uneventful contest, finishing ahead of Norris, who crossed the line behind Mercedes driver George Russell. The race concluded with the top three maintaining their starting positions.
Max Verstappen of Red Bull improved his position from sixth on the grid to fourth place by the end of the sprint, but this result cost him one championship point in comparison to Norris. Heading into Sunday’s main race, Norris holds a 22-point advantage over Piastri, while Verstappen trails Norris by 25 points. The outcome of the grand prix will determine the championship title: if Norris wins, he clinches the championship; if either Piastri or Verstappen wins, the title fight will continue until the final race in Abu Dhabi.
At the start of the race, Verstappen jumped two positions by passing Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin, who had impressively qualified fourth despite the car’s lack of competitiveness. Verstappen followed teammate Yuki Tsunoda past Alonso before Tsunoda allowed Verstappen through. Verstappen attempted to challenge Norris early on, even simulating an overtaking maneuver, but eventually fell back due to issues with his car’s handling, describing it as bouncing and jumping.
The race saw limited overtaking among the top drivers, with the only significant change occurring when Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli passed Alonso after the latter went wide at the final corner at the end of the 12th lap. However, both Antonelli and Tsunoda received five-second penalties for repeatedly exceeding track limits, which left them in fifth and sixth positions respectively. Alonso secured two points for Aston Martin by finishing seventh, and Williams’ Carlos Sainz took the last point for eighth place. Ferrari experienced difficulties, with Charles Leclerc dropping from ninth to 13th due to two off-track incidents, and Lewis Hamilton finishing 17th after starting from the pit lane
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