Piastri Turns Heads After Topping the Table in the Sprint Shootout in Qatar

In surprising fashion Oscar Piastri stunned the grid by topping the table in the sprint shootout. The sprint shootout will set the grid for the sprint race set to take place later today. Piastri claimed pole by setting a 1m24.454 lap beating out his teammate Lando Norris in second by 0.08s. Championship leader Max Verstappen finished in third. The Mercedes who seemingly had found some pace in Qualifying for the main grand prix weren’t able to convert that early success into a double top 5 finish again. However, Russell will start from fourth on the grid which puts him in good points scoring range.

Track Limit Changes Threw a Curve Ball for the Drivers

Track limits were revised at Turns 12 and 13, so the drivers were given a 10-minute “practice familiarization session” prior to the start of the shootout. This extra time proved to be beneficial for Pisatri. Piastri stated the following after the session, “I’m very, very happy. It was a pretty good lap. I saw Lando on the big screen, he made mistake at the last corner, so I don’t know what his lap was looking like, but no, I’m very, very happy. I struggled quite a bit in the first two parts of that qualifying and then got my act together a bit more for the last one.”

Russell’s teammate, 7 time world champion Lewis Hamilton could only find the pace to finish P12 in the shootout. A far cry from his finish in qualifying for the grand prix. Sergio Perez the man feeling pressure in second place in the drivers champion finished P8. Perez’s goal this weekend is to finish in front of Hamilton no matter what. Currently Perez holds a 33 point lead over Hamilton for second place. If he stay ahead that is one less race that Hamilton has to catch up in the points standings. Hamilton struggled with the revised track limits after riding on the curbing multiple times and losing tenths ultimately ruining his lap times.

The sprint race begins later this morning.

Full Qatar Sprint Shootout Results are Below