F1 – Norris hands Piastri Sprint win in Qatar with Russell third

Lando Norris gifted team-mate Oscar Piastri a second successive Qatar Sprint victory, swapping places with the Australian just metres before the finish line to give McLaren a one-two finish that extends the team’s lead over Constructors’ Championship rivals Ferrari to 30 points. George Russell finished third for Mercedes ahead of Ferrari duo Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc.

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Polesitter Norris led comfortably for almost the full 19 laps but looking to pay Piastri back for giving him a Sprint win in São Paulo, when Norris was vying, unsuccessfully, for the Driver’s title, he slowed after exiting the final corner of the final lap and allowed Piastri to sweep past and claim victory.

“It was probably a bit closer than what I was wanting,” said Norris afterwards as Russell took third just two tenths of a second behind. “I planned to do it since Brazil. The team told me not to do it, but I thought I could get away with it, and we did.”

At the race start, Norris got away well to take the lead as Russell and Piastri got embroiled in a tight battle through the opening two corners. The Mercedes driver defended robustly but the McLaren driver attacked around the outside and stole second place as they exited Turn 3, leading Russell to complain that the McLaren driver had “turned in on him”.

Further back, Max Verstappen, starting from P6 on the grid, got away badly and after being passed by Lewis Hamilton the four-time world champion was then boxed in by the Ferraris and went wide in the following corner, which then allowed Haas Nico Hülkenberg and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly to power past. At the end of the opening lap the champion was down to ninth. There was trouble too for Liam Lawson and Alex Albon, with both dropping down the field after bad starts.

At the front, with DRS in play, Russell attacked Piastri into Turn 1, but though he initially seemed to get ahead, the Australian brake late, clung to the racing line and kept hold of P2. Norris, meanwhile, was out in the lead just 0.7s ahead of his team-mate.

On lap 8 Verstappen, with the aid of DRS, overhauled Gasly into Turn 1, and set off in pursuit of Hülkenberg who was 1.5s ahead. But that was as far as the 2024 champion would progress, with the Haas driver comfortably able to keep the Red Bull man at bay.

On lap 13, Leclerc closed right up to fifth-placed Hamilton on the pit straight and under braking into Turn 1 the Ferrari driver dived down the inside to attack. Hamilton fought back through the following corner but Leclerc hung on around the outside and outpaced the Mercedes through Turns 3 and 4 to take P5.

On the following lap, Russell closed in on Piastri once again. This time it looked like the Mercedes driver had the pace to get past but the Australian driver defended aggressively through Turn 1 to hold on, much to the Mercedes’ driver’s annoyance.

Russell continued the chase right to the flag but Piastri, aided by DRS being provided by Norris, managed to keep the Mercedes driver at bay to the final moments of the race.

Then as Norris reached the final corner of lap 19 he dramatically slowed, and paying his team-mate back for handing him the Sprint win in São Paulo, the Briton allowed Piastri to power through to take his second successive Qatar Sprint win.

Norris crossed the line just a tenth of a second behind his team-mate and two tenths ahead of the hard-charging Russell.

The top three were followed by the Ferrari cars of Carlos Sainz and Leclerc. Hamilton finished in sixth ahead of Hülkenberg and Verstappen crossed the line in eighth to take the final point.

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