Oscar Piastri lands early blow with sprint pole at decisive grand prix
Norris’s chance was ruined when he started out behind Alex Albon’s Williams in dirty weather, and he also made a mistake running into the gravel at the final corner.
“It was a nice day, which is nice for a change,” smiled Piastri, who was a long shot for the title but immediately rejected McLaren’s suggestions that Norris would help him win the title.
“I’m quite happy. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in P1,” said Piastri, whose last sprint pole position was at the Belgian Grand Prix in July and a month later at the Dutch Grand Prix in Zandvoort.
“It almost went horribly wrong in turn four,” he reflected. “Turning left in a right corner is never a good thing. I lost two tenths. I thought the lap was over, but I kept pushing and was able to find some more time.”
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“It’s just the sprint but I’ll do my best. The pace has been there all day and hopefully we can keep it going.”
If the results go his way, Norris can lift the title in the penultimate race of the year this weekend, but Piastri showed that he has not given up the fight yet by beating his teammate by 0.230 seconds.
If Piastri can win the sprint race, where he achieved his first F1 success at the same track in 2023 and repeated the same dose last year, he can collect the maximum eight points and narrow the gap to Norris before qualifying for the main race on Saturday evening.
Verstappen whined about his Red Bull all day, and the man who took a stunning victory in Las Vegas at the weekend finished the race behind teammate Yuki Tsunoda in fifth, while Aston Martin’s evergreen Fernando Alonso finished fourth.
Lewis Hamilton’s miserable time at Ferrari continued with his elimination in Q18. The unhappy seven-time champion complained his car “couldn’t go any faster” and when asked if there were any positives he could take from the weekend he added: “The weather is nice.”
Earlier in the day, Piastri had started his race with the fastest lap of 1:20.924 in practice, 0.058 seconds ahead of Norris.
AAP
