He is back at the crucial moment: Oscar Piastri won the sprint race at the start of the final battle in Formula 1 for the drivers’ title on Saturday. The McLaren driver reduced his gap to the overall leader, his teammate Lando Norris, to 22 points. The Englishman came third behind George Russell in the Mercedes and spoke in a relaxed manner about limiting the damage. That doesn’t necessarily apply to defending champion Max Verstappen. In fourth place, the four-time world champion only lost one point to Norris (25 behind) after Friday’s small disaster and is only three behind Piastri. But should Norris win the Qatar Grand Prix on Sunday (5 p.m. CET in the F.A.Z. live ticker for Formula 1 and on Sky) or get four points more than Piastri and at the same time not lose any of his lead over Verstappen, he would be world champion for the first time. Verstappen would have to resign. That’s obvious, because he’s struggling with his car: “I had the same difficulties again as in qualifying,” said the four-time world champion, “that stopped us from being able to keep up. We have to stop the bouncing and the understeer.” Red Bull didn’t have much time until qualifying for the race on Sunday, in which Piastri secured pole position in the last attempt with a track record. Norris and Verstappen follow in starting positions two and three respectively. The course of the sprint race showed how important a good starting position is in Qatar. The route of the “Lusail International Circuit”, located 20 kilometers north of the capital Doha, offers little overtaking opportunity despite a straight line that is just over a kilometer long. Verstappen, only sixth in qualifying for the small race, implemented his promise: “All in!” Tsunoda turns out to be a starting aid. With a fixed start, he followed his teammate Yuki Tsunoda, who was in front of him for the first time, who shot past Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin), sat in front of the Spaniard and thus cleared the way for his chief driver on the outside lane. The Japanese, whose days at Red Bull are said to be numbered, finally turned out to be a starting help. Loyal to the point of divorce, he let Verstappen move into fourth place, directly in the slipstream of Lando Norris. The damage limitation became apparent after the drama on Friday evening, when Verstappen, cursing at the stubbornness of the car, went offside, damaged the underbody, thereby causing downforce and ultimately lost touch with his opponents in the fight for the world championship. But the world champion team couldn’t shake the unpleasant bouncing of the RB21: “The bouncing is still there,” Verstappen shouted over the radio. And so after the first few laps the Dutchman lost the chance of attacking Norris and being able to leave him behind. More would probably not have been possible even if the roadholding had been better. After ten laps, half of the small race, Norris was no longer within striking distance of George Russell in the Mercedes. It happened as predicted: Those who could not use the starting phase for overtaking maneuvers tried to maintain their position. Piastri was never in danger. “He’s fast in every situation, had everything under control,” says McLaren’s Andrea Stella, explaining the “comeback” after six weaker races in which the Melbourne driver didn’t make it into the top three: “It confirms what we’ve always said. On tracks with strong grip (adhesion/ed.) we see the usual, fast Oscar again. If there’s little grip, then he has to choose a special driving style, there’s still a lack of experience. We have a good result, it’s great that Lando got good points “More on the topicThe World Cup leader, like Russell, never came under pressure. On the contrary, Verstappen’s gap grew to a good nine seconds by the finish. Apart from a few overtaking maneuvers, the field behind the fastest drivers – Nico Hülkenberg came 16th in the Sauber – offered hardly any entertainment. Only two fell out of line in the procession. Tsunoda drove over the marked route limit too often. The track commissioners added five seconds to his time. Because the Mercedes man Kimi Antonelli, who was chasing him, also made four strikes, he stayed fifth ahead of the Italian.
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