Formula 1’s 2025 Qatar Grand Prix Review

The 2025 Qatar Grand Prix delivered one of the most decisive races of the season, tightening the title fight to its closest margin yet. Under the lights of Lusail, the combination of a tyre-stint limit, an early Safety Car, and diverging strategies produced a high-stakes chess match between Max Verstappen, Oscar Piastri, and championship leader Lando Norris. Verstappen’s victory brings the championship down to a 12-point spread heading into Abu Dhabi, marking the first time in a decade that three drivers remain mathematically alive entering the finale.

Explore our exclusive ticket and travel packages for upcoming Formula 1 Grand Prix by clicking right here.

Sprint Qualifying – 2025 Qatar Grand Prix

Oscar Piastri delivered under pressure at the Lusail International Circuit, securing Sprint Pole with a perfectly executed final lap in SQ3. The Australian’s 1:20.055 was enough to edge Mercedes’ George Russell by just 0.032s, giving McLaren the early advantage heading into Saturday’s 19-lap Sprint. Lando Norris completed the top three, two-tenths off his teammate after running wide at the final corner on his last attempt.

Behind the McLarens and Russell, Fernando Alonso produced one of the standout performances of the session, taking P4 for Aston Martin. Yuki Tsunoda out-qualified his Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen for P5, with the Dutchman complaining of bouncing and unable to match the leaders in the final segment.

Kimi Antonelli continued his strong rookie form with P7, followed by Williams’ Carlos Sainz, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, and Alex Albon, who completed the SQ3 top ten.

Further down the order, track limits played a decisive role. Isack Hadjar lost his final lap time in SQ2 at Turn 8, dropping him to P11 and denying Racing Bulls a double top-10. Nico Hulkenberg also saw his best lap deleted, leaving him P14. Lewis Hamilton suffered another difficult Friday, eliminated in SQ1 and finishing P17, ahead only of the two Alpines of Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto.

Sprint Qualifying – Top 10 Classification

Pos	Driver	Team	SQ1	SQ2	SQ3
1	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:21.286	1:21.005	1:20.055
2	George Russell	Mercedes	1:21.432	1:21.136	1:20.087
3	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:21.398	1:20.956	1:20.285
4	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:21.276	1:21.272	1:20.450
5	Yuki Tsunoda	Red Bull Racing	1:21.458	1:21.152	1:20.519
6	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	1:21.172	1:21.036	1:20.528
7	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:21.555	1:21.376	1:20.532
8	Carlos Sainz	Williams	1:21.438	1:21.172	1:20.542
9	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:21.636	1:21.190	1:20.622
10	Alexander Albon	Williams	1:21.721	1:21.212	1:20.788

Sprint Race – 2025 Qatar Grand Prix

Hungarian Grand Prix, Formula 1, Oscar Piastri, Qatar Grand Prix, 2024, Chinese Grand Prix, Bahrain Grand Prix, miami grand prix, Spanish Grand Prix, Belgian Grand Prix, Qatar

Oscar Piastri converted his Sprint Pole into a dominant and controlled victory under the lights at Lusail, leading all 19 laps and setting the tone for what has been one of his strongest weekends of the season. The McLaren driver launched cleanly from the line, immediately breaking clear of George Russell and never coming under serious threat again, despite tyre degradation affecting the entire field in the closing laps.

Russell held firm in second place throughout the Sprint, managing Lando Norris behind while keeping Piastri within sight early on. Norris, meanwhile, completed a double-McLaren podium by securing third after failing to mount a late challenge on Russell, but remaining comfortably ahead of the chasing pack.

Max Verstappen climbed from sixth to fourth at the start, making up two positions in the opening corners. But despite the early progress, he was unable to clear Norris and continued to struggle with the same bouncing and porpoising issues that had hindered him throughout Friday’s Sprint Qualifying.

Yuki Tsunoda crossed the line in fifth but only after a post-race reshuffling. The Red Bull driver was handed a five-second penalty for exceeding track limits, yet still scored four points when the dust settled.

Kimi Antonelli initially finished fifth on the road after capitalizing on Tsunoda’s penalty. However, he too received a five-second penalty for track limits violations identical to Tsunoda’s, dropping the Mercedes rookie back to sixth. Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz completed the points-paying positions in seventh and eighth.

Further back, the midfield was shaped by early incidents, tyre management, and widespread track limits deletions. Charles Leclerc dropped from P9 to P13 after running wide on Lap 1, while Lewis Hamilton — starting from the pit lane due to setup changes under parc fermé rules — finished 17th after a difficult Sprint that never allowed him to recover.

Kick Sauber once again walked away without Sprint points, ending with Bortoleto P11 and Bearman P12. Alpine had another challenging outing as both Gasly and Colapinto started from the pit lane and finished outside the top 15.

With Piastri taking the full eight points and closing the gap to Norris in the Drivers’ Championship, the pressure intensifies heading into the main race on Sunday.

Sprint Race – Final Classification (Top 8 Points Finishers)

Pos	Driver	Team	Time	Points
1	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	26:51.033	8
2	George Russell	Mercedes	+4.951s	7
3	Lando Norris	McLaren	+6.279s	6
4	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	+9.054s	5
5	Yuki Tsunoda	Red Bull Racing	+19.327s	4
6	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+21.391s	3
7	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+24.556s	2
8	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+27.333s	1

Qualifying – 2025 Qatar Grand Prix

Oscar Piastri delivered one of the most important laps of his career to secure pole position for the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix, beating McLaren teammate Lando Norris and Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in a high-pressure session that may prove decisive in the title fight. With Norris entering the weekend 18 points ahead of both Piastri and Verstappen, the Australian’s 1:19.820 in Q3 placed him in the ideal position to strike back on Sunday.

Qualifying unfolded against falling track temperatures and strong winds at Lusail, conditions that challenged grip and punished even the smallest mistakes. Piastri looked confident from the start, topping Q1 and finishing Q2 within a tenth of Norris before delivering a clean, controlled final push lap to secure pole by 0.068s.

Norris settled for second after running slightly wide in the final sector on his last attempt — a small but costly moment that kept him from extending his championship lead heading into Sunday. Verstappen completed the top three, with the four-time World Champion unable to match McLaren’s one-lap pace despite improving across all three sectors on his final run.

George Russell qualified fourth for Mercedes, continuing the team’s encouraging pace from Sprint Qualifying earlier in the weekend. Fernando Alonso secured fifth for Aston Martin, while Yuki Tsunoda impressed again in sixth ahead of Kimi Antonelli, who put both Mercedes cars inside the top seven.

Williams delivered a solid team performance with Carlos Sainz in eighth and Alex Albon in tenth, split only by Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari. On a difficult afternoon for the Scuderia, Lewis Hamilton qualified 16th after struggling with grip and balance throughout the session.

With Piastri, Norris, and Verstappen lining up first, second, and third, the Qatar Grand Prix grid is perfectly poised for another championship-defining battle under the lights.

2025 Qatar Grand Prix — Qualifying (Top 10)

Pos	Driver	Team	Q1	Q2	Q3
1	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	1:20.234	1:19.650	1:19.387
2	Lando Norris	McLaren	1:20.157	1:19.861	1:19.495
3	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	1:20.472	1:19.985	1:19.651
4	George Russell	Mercedes	1:20.074	1:20.186	1:19.662
5	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	1:20.576	1:20.084	1:19.846
6	Isack Hadjar	Racing Bulls	1:20.603	1:20.350	1:20.114
7	Carlos Sainz	Williams	1:20.520	1:20.251	1:20.287
8	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	1:20.598	1:20.219	1:20.418
9	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	1:20.681	1:20.324	1:20.477
10	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	1:20.564	1:20.343	1:20.561

2025 Qatar Grand Prix Review

Max Verstappen, Brazilian Grand Prix, Formula 1, Winner, Red Bull, Japanese Grand Prix, Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, Qatar Grand Prix

Max Verstappen kept his title hopes alive in Qatar with a crucial victory at Lusail, beating Oscar Piastri and Carlos Sainz in a race defined by an early Safety Car and strict tyre limitations that capped each Pirelli set at 25 laps.

From P3 on the grid, Verstappen launched better than Lando Norris and beat the McLaren into Turn 1, slotting in behind polesitter Piastri while Norris dropped to third. Behind them, George Russell ran wide through Turn 2 and lost three positions to Kimi Antonelli, Sainz and Fernando Alonso, shuffling the Mercedes down the order in the opening corners.

Further back, Pierre Gasly ran wide and damaged the underside of his Alpine, putting him under pressure from Nico Hulkenberg. The pair then clashed at Turn 1: Gasly’s left-front made contact with Hulkenberg’s right-rear, sending the Kick Sauber into the gravel with a damaged wheel and ending his race. The stewards investigated but took no further action, and the incident triggered a Safety Car just early enough to open up strategic options.

With Pirelli’s 25-lap stint limit in place, the Safety Car period fell inside the window that would allow most of the field to reach the finish with only one further stop. Red Bull and the majority of teams pitted under caution, but crucially McLaren chose to keep both Piastri and Norris out, committing to a different strategy. That decision effectively handed Verstappen a pit-stop advantage: he rejoined in P3 on fresh mediums, with one fewer stop required compared to the two McLarens ahead.

Esteban Ocon also initially stayed out but was given a five-second penalty for a false start and pitted after the bulk of the field, rejoining at the back. When racing resumed on Lap 11, Piastri led from Norris and Verstappen, with Sainz having jumped Antonelli in the pits. Alonso, Isack Hadjar, Russell, Charles Leclerc and Ollie Bearman completed the early top 10.

In clean air, the McLarens immediately showed strong pace, lapping over a second quicker than the rest of the pack running the more conventional two-stop. With everyone bound by the stint limit, the bulk of the field would need to pit again around Lap 32, while Piastri and Norris had to stop by Lap 25 to stay within the 25-lap rule.

Piastri boxed first on Lap 24 with a lead of around four seconds and rejoined in clear air ahead of Alonso’s group in P6, preserving his net advantage. Norris stopped one lap later; a brisk 2.2-second stop helped, but when the cycle shook out Verstappen now led ahead of Sainz, Antonelli, Piastri and Norris.

From there, the race became a straight strategic chase. Piastri quickly closed on Antonelli and passed the Mercedes into Turn 1 at the start of Lap 30 to move into a net podium position. Norris tried the same move two laps later but could not find a way through, leaving him stuck behind Antonelli and losing crucial time.

On Lap 32, the majority of the field pitted again to satisfy the stint limit, briefly putting McLaren back at the head of the order before the final stops. Verstappen rejoined on hard tyres in P3, roughly 7.6 seconds behind Piastri, and began to chip away at the gap while Norris came under pressure himself after a moment at Turn 14, where he ran wide over the kerb and nearly spun. Piastri also had a scare at the same high-speed right-hander as he pushed to maintain his buffer.

Piastri made his final stop at the end of Lap 42 for another set of hards and rejoined in P3, around 17 seconds behind Verstappen. Norris followed suit on Lap 44, also switching to hards but rejoining behind Sainz and Antonelli. That left Verstappen in clear control at the front on a one-stop-under-Safety-Car-plus-one-more strategy, with McLaren’s earlier decision now fully exposed.

In the closing laps, Norris hunted Sainz and Antonelli but struggled to find a clean opportunity, while Piastri settled into second with comfortable pace. Antonelli held firm in the battle for the top four until the penultimate lap, when a moment of oversteer on the exit of Turn 10 opened the door for Norris to finally get through and secure P4 at the flag.

Up front, Verstappen managed his hard tyres and the pace to the finish, sealing his seventh Grand Prix victory of the season by just under eight seconds from Piastri. Sainz completed the podium in third, his second of the year for Williams, with Norris fourth and Antonelli fifth to add more important points for Mercedes in the Constructors’ fight.

George Russell recovered to P6 after his difficult first lap and late gain from Hadjar’s misfortune. The Racing Bulls driver had been on course for sixth place before suffering a left-front puncture three laps from the end, dropping him out of the points and reshuffling the order behind.

Fernando Alonso salvaged seventh for Aston Martin despite a dramatic 360-degree spin that cost him positions earlier in the race. Leclerc came home eighth for Ferrari, while Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda completed the points scorers in ninth and 10th respectively.

Alex Albon finished P11, followed by Lewis Hamilton, Bortoleto and Colapinto. Ocon ended his day 15th after serving the false-start penalty, ahead of Gasly, Lance Stroll and the unlucky Hadjar. Bearman retired after serving a 10-second stop-go penalty for his car being deemed unsafe, and Hulkenberg was the other retirement following his early collision with Gasly.

Verstappen’s win, combined with Piastri’s second and Norris’s fourth, cuts Norris’s championship lead to 12 points heading into the Abu Dhabi finale, with Piastri now 16 points off the top and all three still mathematically in the fight.

Final Classification — 2025 Qatar Grand Prix

Pos	Driver	Team	Time / Retired	Pts
1	Max Verstappen	Red Bull Racing	1:24:38.241	25
2	Oscar Piastri	McLaren	+7.995s	18
3	Carlos Sainz	Williams	+22.665s	15
4	Lando Norris	McLaren	+23.315s	12
5	Kimi Antonelli	Mercedes	+28.317s	10
6	George Russell	Mercedes	+37.772s	8
7	Fernando Alonso	Aston Martin	+46.244s	6
8	Charles Leclerc	Ferrari	+48.331s	4
9	Liam Lawson	Racing Bulls	+51.998s	2
10	Yuki Tsunoda	Red Bull Racing	+52.543s	1
11	Alexander Albon	Williams	+1:07.217s	0
12	Lewis Hamilton	Ferrari	+1:09.931s	0
13	Gabriel Bortoleto	Kick Sauber	+1:16.085s	0
14	Franco Colapinto	Alpine	+1:17.789s	0
15	Esteban Ocon	Haas	+1:23.517s	0
16	Pierre Gasly	Alpine	+1:24.091s	0
17	Lance Stroll	Aston Martin	+1:26.774s	0
18	Isack Hadjar	Racing Bulls	+1 Lap	0
NC	Ollie Bearman	Haas	DNF	0
NC	Nico Hulkenberg	Kick Sauber	DNF	0

Conclusion

Qatar delivered exactly what the championship fight needed: a Verstappen victory, a Piastri podium, and a difficult day for Norris. The result compresses the standings to just 12 points between Norris and Verstappen, with Piastri still in the mix at 16 points back.
For the first time since 2016, the Drivers’ Championship will be decided in Abu Dhabi, and all three contenders have a mathematical shot at glory.

If you want to be trackside for dramatic finales like this at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, explore our premium F1 ticket and travel packages — the world’s best races begin with the right seat.