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Piastri boosts title bid with dramatic late pole lap / Photo: © AFP
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Piastri boosts title bid with dramatic late pole lap
Oscar Piastri boosted his title bid with a dramatic late lap to claim pole position on Saturday for the Qatar Grand Prix, beating McLaren team-mate and series leader Lando Norris by a tenth of a second.
The 24-year-old Australian, who trimmed Norris's lead to 22 points by winning the earlier sprint race, left his final run late before delivering a lap in one minute and 19.387 seconds to beat his own track record at the Lusail International Circuit and ease clear of Norris by 0.108 seconds.
The duelling McLaren pair locked out the front row of the grid ahead of four-time champion Max Verstappen of Red Bull who qualified third, 0.264 seconds adrift, ensuring the three remaining championship rivals will fill the front places on the grid for Sunday's showdown.
For Piastri, the race is win or bust. If Norris finishes ahead of his team-mate and Verstappen, the Briton will seal his maiden title ahead of the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Norris leads the championship with 396 points, ahead of Piastri on 374 and Verstappen on 371. First place in each race is worth 25 points.
It was Piastri's sixth pole of the season and of his career at a fast, physically-demanding high-grip circuit where he has returned to form.
George Russell was fourth ahead of Mercedes team-mate teenage rookie Kimi Antonelli, Racing Bulls' rookie Isack Hadjar, Williams's Carlos Sainz and two-time champion Fernando Alonso of Aston Martin.
Pierre Gasly was ninth for Alpine and Charles Leclerc 10th for Ferrari.
Norris's bid for pole ended when he drifted wide at Turn Two at the start of what would have been his last flying lap, missing the apex before abandoning the lap and pitting.
- 'Oscar did a great job' -
"What happened?" Piastri asked him as they climbed out of their cars.
Piastri said the team had stuck with the set-up that won the sprint earlier in the day.
"We left the car pretty much the same," said Piastri. "Only minor tweaks. It felt great all weekend and if it ain't broke dont fix it."
Norris said: "I had oversteer and had to abort. Nothing to complain about. Oscar did a great job."
Verstappen was disappointed, but said: "We're still quite far off, even if it was a little better.
"This weekend is not what I wanted it to be, but we'll see what we can do. It's not amazing."
In the first of the three floodlit qualifying sessions, seven-time champion Lewis Hamilton flopped in Q1, for the second consecutive weekend.
He was 18th and exited along with Red Bull's Yuki Tsunoda, Esteban Ocon of Haas, Aston Martin's Lance Stroll and Alpine's Franco Colapinto.
In the second session, the Saubers of Nico Hulkenberg and Gabriel Bortoleto, Oliver Bearman in a Haas, Liam Lawson of Racing Bulls and Williams's Alex Albon missed the cut.
Norris opened Q3 with a sensational lap in 1:19.495.
Piastri was 0.035 adrift when the session was red-flagged to recover plastic that had peeled off a tyre on Sainz's Williams car and fell on the racing line, delaying the finale by four minute before Piastri secured what may be a decisive pole position.
K.Gray--SFF
