F1 | Sprint Race | Qatar GP | Piastri wins ahead of Russell, Norris

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Full report and results from the F1 Sprint race at the 2025 Qatar GP, which saw Oscar Piastri winning, ahead of George Russell in P2 and title rival Lando Norris in P3, with Max Verstappen recovering to fourth from sixth on the grid.

Fresh concerns regarding the tyres

Another problem regarding the tyres in at the 2025 F1 Qatar GP. Sunday’s main race is already set to have a mandatory 25-lap limit to the tyres in order to avoid continued strain on the rubber. But Pirelli has found deep cuts in some tires used in the Sprint qualifying session. Although the tire manufacturer has not considering any further changes at this point, the situation will be closely monitored in the Sprint in order to minimize the risk of punctures.

Four cars starting from the pit lane

Lewis Hamilton, Lance Stroll, Franco Colapinto and Pierre Gasly all started from the pit lane, after their teams broke parc fermé overnight in order to make set-up changes. All the runners started on the medium compound tyres.

Piastri leads the opening lap

As the lights went out, Oscar Piastri kept his lead without trouble ahead of Russell and Norris. Behind them, Max Verstappen had a flying start and moved up to fourth, ahead of Alonso and Tsunoda in just the first sector.

Further back, Charles Leclerc lost significant ground at the start, who went off at turn two at the opening lap and lost four places, down to 13th.

Verstappen puts pressure on Norris

The four-time champion looked to be the fastest car on track in the opening few laps, putting massive pressure on title rival Norris for third place, as the pair started to catch Russell ahead with DRS open on the main straight, whilst Piastri continued to ease away out in the lead.

Further back, Tsunoda kept Alonso at an arm’s length with a 2s gap on lap six, with Antonelli and Sainz completing the top 8.

Piastri sets the pace in the lead; Verstappen’s challenge falters

The Australian driver continued to streak away out in the lead, with a 1.6 second gap to Russell at the end of the eighth lap.

Max Verstappen’s charge towards Norris and Russell came to a halt on lap 8, as he fell to 1.8 seconds back from Norris, reporting over the radio his car was “bouncing” as much as it did in Sprint Qualifying on Friday.

Carlos Sainz lost a bit of bodywork from his Williams car as he approached turn 13, but the piece fell away out of the racing line, which meant no interruptions to proceedings.

As the tyres started to wear, most battles died down out in front, with Norris also falling back from Russell, as the gap rose to over 2 seconds by lap 10.

Leclerc tries to recover after poor start, but loses out to Lawson

At the start of lap 11, Leclerc went from pressuring Ollie Bearman for 12th to losing a place to Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson after missing the apex at turn 5 and briefly running into the gravel. Lawson then overtook the Ferrari outside the track on the exit of turn six, but had to give it back immediately on the next lap.

Fernando Alonso was under pressure from Kimi Antonelli for sixth place since the start, and finally succumbed to it at the end of lap 12, as he ran wide on the exit of the final corner and ceded the place to the Mercedes.

Tsunoda penalised for track limits; Stroll, Gasly and Colapinto pit for tyres

Yuki Tsunoda received a five-second time penalty for continuously exceeding track limits at the end of lap 14.

Lance Stroll started from the pit lane, and was also the first driver to visit the pits during the race, as he pitted at the end of lap 15 for a new set of soft tyres. He was soon followed by fellow pit lane starters Gasly and Colapinto, who also pitted for new softs.

Out in front, Piastri maintained his 2s lead over Russell, with Norris a further 1.7 behind and Verstappen falling away by a further 3.4s.

Tsunoda couldn’t respond to make a 5-second gap ahead of Antonelli, but comfortably had the margin over Alonso in P7.

Down the order, Lewis Hamilton was unable to make any progress from his start from the pit lane, as he didn’t even have the pace to match the Sauber of Hulkenberg ahead, falling over three seconds back from the German as the race approached its final lap.

Piastri wins; Antonelli penalised for track limits

Oscar Piastri managed to seal his win without any trouble, nearly five seconds clear of Russell at the flag, with his team-mate and title rival Norris a further 1.3s back.

Verstappen finished P4, 2.7s back from Norris, followed by Tsunoda – who managed to keep his fifth place thanks to a late track limits penalty for Antonelli, who also received a five-second penalty and was relegated to sixth again after shortly taking over P5 at the flag.

Alonso and Sainz completed the points scorers, with Hadjar and Albon completing the top 10.

Notably, neither Ferrari car finished in the top 10, with Leclerc down in 13th and Hamilton in a lowly 17th place. All cars completed the 19-lap race. Below full race results: