McLaren’s Oscar Piastri won the 2023 Qatar Grand Prix sprint race shootout, fending off Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who clinched the 2023 Formula One season title with his second place finish.
Piastri started on pole position of the 19-lap race and held off Mercedes’ George Russell, Verstappen and his McLaren teammate, Lando Norris for a couple laps until Russell passed him on the third lap following a safety car initiated by the crash of AlphaTauri’s Liam Lawson.
The restart only lasted a lap as Williams’ Logan Sargeant then crashed and brought out another safety car with a restart on the sixth lap. Russell held the lead for another five laps before his soft tires gave way to Piastri’s medium tires.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez then got tangled with Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg and Alpine’s Esteban Ocon in a crash that took all three of them out of the race and gave new life to seven-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton, who moved up to eighth after their misfortune.
Verstappen passed the fading Russell on Lap 16 and Norris passed Russell on Lap 17 to secure the podium places.
With the result, Verstappen clinches the 2023 Formula One world title with 407 points while Hamilton continues his surge up the standings and moves four points closer to Perez in the battle for second place – Perez with 223 points to Hamilton’s 194 points.
2023 Qatar Grand Prix Sprint Race Shootout Top 8 Finishers
1] Oscar Piastri McLaren 35:01.297
2] Max Verstappen Red Bull 1.871 behind
3] Lando Norris McLaren +8.497
4] George Russell Mercedes +11.036
5] Lewis Hamilton Mercedes +17.314
6] Carlos Sainz, Jr. Ferrari +18.806
7] Charles Leclerc Ferrari +19.860
8] Alexander Albon Williams +19.864
