Oscar Piastri beats Lando Norris for pole position at Qatar Grand Prix qualifying

McLaren driver Oscar Piastri secured pole position for the Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix on Saturday, beating championship leader and teammate Lando Norris in a tight qualifying session at the Lusail International Circuit.

Piastri, who won the Sprint race earlier on Saturday, edged out Norris by 0.108 seconds, posting a time of 1:19.387. Red Bull's Max Verstappen qualified third, followed by Mercedes driver George Russell in fourth, completing the second row for Sunday's main race.

The result sets the stage for the penultimate race of the 2025 season, where the Drivers' Championship remains undecided. Following Piastri's Sprint victory earlier in the day, Norris leads the standings by 22 points over Piastri and 25 points over Verstappen.

The qualifying session saw a close battle between the two McLaren drivers. Norris held provisional pole position after the initial runs in Q3, with Piastri trailing by only 0.035 seconds.

The final attempts were complicated when Q3 was red-flagged with five minutes remaining after plastic debris came off Carlos Sainz's car.

When the session resumed, Norris aborted his final flying lap after an early error. Norris had reportedly backed off behind Russell to create a necessary gap to avoid the effects of dirty air. However, Russell then began a slow preparation lap, forcing Norris to catch his car when he attacked the early corners of his lap, leading him to abandon the attempt.

In Norris's absence, Piastri improved his time to claim pole position.

Norris can still secure the world championship in Qatar on Sunday if he manages to extend his lead over his closest pursuers by 26 points or more, making him mathematically unreachable before the season finale in Abu Dhabi, authorities said.