Oscar Piastri surged to a comfortable victory in the Qatar Grand Prix sprint race on Saturday cutting McLaren teammate Lando Norris's lead in the drivers' championship by two points.
The Australian came home first at the Lusail International Circuit with Mercedes' George Russell second and Norris third. Piastri then secured pole position for Sunday's race with Norris next to him at the front of grid, while Max Verstappen and Russell occupy third and fourth, respectively.
Norris is now 22 points ahead of Piastri with four-time defending world champion Verstappen – who was fourth in the sprint – a further three points behind with 50 still to play for in Qatar and the Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix season finale.
If Norris wins on Sunday, he will be champion. If either Piastri or Verstappen does, then the battle will go to the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi next weekend.
“It has been a good weekend so far, I think everything went smoothly in the sprint there, said Norris after his sprint win. “I'm happy with how it has been so far, I just need to keep it rolling.
“It's obviously a very different circuit to where we have been, much higher speed, much higher grip.
“The last couple of weekends has just been things going wrong rather than a lack of pace so to speak. Here everything has gone smoothly so far and the pace has been strong.
“It's a track I have enjoyed in the past, so enjoying it again clearly.”
Red Bull's Verstappen spoke of securing a “perfect weekend” going into the Qatar race but came up short in the sprint. “It has been difficult so far,” said Verstappen, who triumphed last week in Las Vegas to boost his title hopes following the disqualification of the McLaren pair.
“The start was good and the first few laps I just pushed a bit more compared to the guys ahead to try to have an opportunity knowing that passing was tough.
“After that you just get into the same trouble and the more the tyres wear, the more you feel those kind of issues. I was basically just doing my own race out there.”
In a sprint of little drama, Piastri crossed the line 4.9 seconds clear of Russell with Norris 1.3 secs further back. Verstappen was nine seconds behind Piastri.
“I tried to go forwards and we got pretty close at the start, but it was good,” said Norris. “I didn't see what happened behind, it felt like a long stint and lots of pushing.
“It's going to be a tough race tomorrow but it's not easy to pass around here, so it's all about qualifying.
“It has been quick, it's a hell of a lap around here in qualifying so I'm looking forward to it.”
Lewis Hamilton started 18th and finished 17th, 46s behind Piastri after just 19 laps of racing, to complete yet another sorry performance for Ferrari.
“Man, I don't know how but we made the car worse,” said a despondent Hamilton on the radio.
