Oscar Piastri's Redemption Weekend Continues With A Three-Peat At The Qatar Grand Prix

There are now only two more 'points scoring' sessions left in Formula 1 for 2025: the Qatar Grand Prix and the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix next week. Today's sprint race, though, has marked a few gained points on behalf of one of our Championship Contenders, Oscar Piastri.

As it stood prior to the Qatar sprint race, Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen were tied in points, sitting at a gap of 24 points to the leader, McLaren's Lando Norris. While the results haven't changed significantly, Piastri's gap to Norris has shortened to 22 points.

Why? Because for the third year in a row, Oscar Piastri has proved his dominance at the Lusail International Circuit in Qatar, bringing home a victory in the final sprint race of the 2025 F1 Season.

Oscar Prefers the High Grip and High Speed Nature of Qatar

All in all, Oscar Piastri's relatively disappointing performances across the string of the last few races at COTA, Mexico City, Brazil, and Las Vegas are par for the course over his previous three years at McLaren in F1.

These tracks, which are low-grip and feature a number of low-speed turns, have never favored the driving style of the young Australian. That said, it was expected, heading into Qatar, that Piastri would show a resurgence in performance, having won the last two Sprints.

Oscar Piastri, McLaren — Oscar Piastri McLaren | McLaren Racing

Piastri told the press that it's been a 'good weekend so far' and described his time in Qatar as 'smooth', obviously a story that is told by his sprint pole and conversion to the win.

When asked about his performance, Piastri detailed what he has been feeling the last few weeks out on track.

"I think the last couple of weekends - it's been things going wrong rather than a lack of pace. I think here, everything has gone smoothly so far and the pace has been strong. It's a track I've enjoyed in the past, so I'm enjoying it again, clearly."
Oscar Piastri, McLaren P1

Looking Forward to Qatar Grand Prix Qualifying

As with any sprint weekend, qualifying will be held later today at the Lusail International Circuit. A session that will be the most crucial to the 2025 F1 World Driver's Championship race.

Lando Norris, McLaren, at the 2025 Formula 1 Italian Grand Prix at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza. | McLaren Racing

As it stands, if Piastri's teammate, Lando Norris, can win the race (much easier from pole position around this track), he will become the victor. In any other position, the race has a chance to go to Abu Dhabi, dependent on Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen's finishing positions, of course.

That said, Piastri is completely focused on his own performance and finding even more pace out of the car after breaking the track record in sprint qualifying yesterday.

"Ideally if we can find more pace [for Grand Prix Qualifying]. I think everyone finds a little bit more for a Sprint Weekend. You have to try to find every bit out of the car that you can. We'll try our best to do that, but I think our base performance seems very strong around here."
Oscar Piastri, McLaren, P1

Piastri is not looking to "reinvent the wheel" heading into the latter Qualifying session, only master it and come out on pole.

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