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McLaren’s Oscar
Piastri will be hoping to continue that this historical trend that has
existed since the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix in 2021: the driver to set
fastest time in qualifying has led every lap and won the race.
With
his sixth pole position of the season under the lights of the Lusail circuit
on Saturday evening, Piastri further lowered the track record he set in
sprint qualifying to 1m19.387s, using the soft tyre (nearly 1.2 seconds
faster than last year’s pole).
The softest compound was chosen by all
drivers from start to finish of qualifying, which got underway at 21:00 in
temperatures of 21 degrees ambient and 24 degrees on track.
In these
cool temperatures, some drivers chose a two-lap run to warm the tyres before
embarking on their flying laps.
There were two short delays during
qualifying: a brief pause before Q2 to sweep up some loose gravel, with the
sharp edges having caused some cuts to the tyres on Friday in particular.
The final Q3 session was then effectively split in two, after a red flag to
retrieve plastic debris, following the first run that was headed by Norris –
who had also set a new track record.
But Piastri was able to hit back
and go even faster on the decisive second run, with the three title
protagonists now occupying the first three places on Sunday’s grid. If
Piastri can finish ahead of his team mate, the title fight stays alive to
Abu Dhabi.
The Pirelli Pole Position Award was given to Piastri by
Alton Mason. The American – mentored by Naomi Campbell – is one of the most
in-demand models on catwalks all over the world, having been elected Model
of the Year five times in a row. In 2022 he also starred in the ‘Elvis’
movie biopic, alongside Austin Butler and Tom Hanks.
THE DAY ON TRACK
The final sprint race of the year got underway at 17:00 local time in
ambient temperatures of 26 degrees and track temperatures of 30 degrees. All
the drivers started on used medium tyres, apart from the two Alpines and the
Ferrari of Lewis Hamilton: which started at the back and fitted new mediums.
McLaren’s Oscar Piastri led all 19 laps from pole to take his first
sprint race win of the year, having never been seriously challenged. This
was Piastri’s third consecutive sprint win in Qatar, having also triumphed
here in 2023 and 2024.
With all six sprint races now complete, the
unofficial ‘sprint championship’ winners of 2025 are Max Verstappen are
Lando Norris, who each claimed two victories, with Lewis Hamilton and now
Piastri taking the others. Verstappen however retains the all-time record
for sprint wins, with 13 under his belt since the format was inaugurated in
2021. |
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MARIO ISOLA - HEAD OF F1 AND CAR RACING
“The only difference in tyre choice for the sprint race was new or used
mediums, depending on the results from sprint qualifying – as the few
drivers not to get through SQ1 were able to use new tyres. Three drivers
also made a pit stop in the sprint race to try out the soft tyres, probably
to assess their potential use in Sunday’s grand prix.
Just as was the
case last year, we saw some tyres where graining had accelerated wear:
taking it to the maximum but without any loss of performance. These
instances, noted mainly on the front-left tyres, are exactly why the limit
of 25 laps on each set has been imposed.
The considerably faster lap
times compared not only to last year but also the latest simulations has led
to a bigger increase in loads on the tyres than expected. As a precaution,
we already prescribed an increase in minimum pressures of 1 psi on both
axles at the end of Friday.
We saw some more cuts on some of the tyre
treads during Saturday, but fewer than Friday. The two pit stops expected on
Sunday should mitigate this issue. Looking ahead to the race, the sets of
mediums kept back by the teams lead to the conclusion that most could go for
two stints on the yellow tyre. The fastest strategy is with a final stint on
the soft, following a pit stop between laps 44-50. The use of the hard C1 at
the beginning, or alternatively between two medium C2 stints, would allow
the pit stops to be spread out more evenly during the race – but this is
theoretically slower than a strategy that uses all three available
compounds.
Medium-hard-soft is the second-quickest tactic on paper,
with pit stop windows that are identical to the fastest strategy: between
laps 19-25 and 46-50, in accordance with the lap limit. If there are no
safety cars, we believe that the teams are likely to maximise the 25 laps
allowed for each set.
Another strategy using all three compounds
could be hard-medium-soft, with a shorter final stint to the flag. In short,
there are plenty of options on the table."
FORMULA 2
The 23-lap
Formula 2 sprint race on Saturday evening was turned on its head by a late
safety car period that ended just seven laps from the finish. Seven drivers
further down the order used this neutralisation to switch from the hard
tyre, which everyone started on, to the soft tyre in the hope of a rapid
final stint. Polesitter Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport) stayed out to seal
his eighth Formula 2 win, while Invicta’s Roman Stanek was the
highest-placed finisher to take a pit stop, taking the flag in P13.
Nonetheless, Verschoor was able to set fastest laps two laps from the finish
– underlining the consistent performance of the hard tyre. A shorter second
safety car period concluded with just one lap to go, with the interruptions
generally helping to reduce the heavy wear demands on tyres at Lusail. |
