Oscar Piastri tightened the title fight with a late, razor-sharp lap to take pole for the Qatar Grand Prix, edging McLaren teammate Lando Norris by a tenth and setting up a tense showdown between the three remaining championship contenders.
The Australian, fresh from winning the sprint earlier in the day, delivered at the final moment with a 1:19.387 that broke his own track record and pushed Norris to second.
Max Verstappen will start third, meaning all three title rivals line up together at the front for Sunday’s decisive race.
For Piastri, it is a lifeline. He sits 22 points behind Norris and must finish ahead of both the Briton and Verstappen to keep his championship hopes alive before Abu Dhabi.
Norris’s final lap evaporated when he ran wide at Turn Two, forcing him to pit. “I had oversteer and had to abort,” he said. “Oscar did a great job.”
Verstappen, still clinging to the fight, admitted it had been another difficult outing, despite improvements aboard his Red Bull.
Behind the leading trio, George Russell claimed fourth, followed by Kimi Antonelli in an impressive P5.
Isack Hadjar, Carlos Sainz, Fernando Alonso, Pierre Gasly and Charles Leclerc completed the top ten.
Lewis Hamilton endured another miserable session, eliminated in Q1 for the second straight weekend, while several midfield contenders fell in Q2 as the track conditions tightened under the lights.
A brief red flag for debris set up a sprint finish to Q3, but when the dust settled, Piastri had grabbed a pole that could yet redefine the championship narrative.
