Formula One – Lusail

Oscar Piastri was in fine form at the Qatar Grand Prix, flying out of Lusail with 26 points added to his World Drivers’ Championship charge.

Piastri began the penultimate round of the Formula One season in fine style, pulling out the quickest time in Sprint Qualifying, before running away with the Sprint Race by almost five seconds over George Russell and McLaren teammate Lando Norris.

Piastri’s Saturday continued in the ascension, outpacing Norris in Qualifying by a tenth of a second to secure pole.

With McLaren’s front row lockout and overtaking being extremely difficult around the high-speed turns of the Lusail International Circuit, McLaren were in a favourable position at the start of the race.

Norris lost out to Verstappen at the first turn of the race, but the McLaren duo had shown strong pace during the 19-lap Sprint where Piastri had taken victory with Norris in third.

A late pit-stop compared to the rest of the field proved to be costly for Piastri’s race result and in the title battle. By the time Piastri made his second pit stop, he emerged out on track in P2, but 15 seconds behind Verstappen.

Piastri reduced the gap to Verstappen late in the race, but not enough to challenge the Dutchman for the Chequered Flag, having to settle for runner-up. Norris finished fourth behind Carlos Sainz in third.

The results now mean Norris holds a 12-point lead heading to the season finale at Abu Dhabi, with Piastri a further four points behind Verstappen.

Formula Two – Lusail

F3 driver James Wharton made his Formula 2 debut over the weekend at Lusail, joining Trident in a revised line-up for the second-last round of the 2025 season.

Wharton managed seven laps in his debut Qualifying session, edging out teammate Lauren van Hoepen to start 21st on the grid in both races for the weekend with a fastest lap of 1:38.897.

Wharton received a DNF in his first F2 race on lap 14, following a collision with van Hoepen, leaving the Australian beached in the gravel at turn one.

However, the recently signed Prema Racing Formula 3 driver for 2026 bounced back in the weekend’s Feature Race, completing the session and finishing inside the top 20 after 32 laps.

Tallying a fastest lap of 1:40.835 and finishing 19th in the race, it was a positive finish to the round for Wharton who had to learn how to handle a new car.