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Stefan Tonev
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Sensational Piastri claims pole for Sprint with Verstappen only third
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The Aussie shone at the Lusail Circuit with teammate Lando Norris completing a McLaren 1-2

Oscar Piastri sensationally claimed pole position for the upcoming Sprint race, edging out teammate Lando Norris and, most importantly, red-hot favorite Max Verstappen, who will start 3rd.

The Aussie clocked a lap time of 1:24.454, which was enough to put him on top, 0.082 seconds ahead of Norris and  0.192 ahead of Verstappen.

Next up came George Russell with another solid performance in 4th, with Carlos Sainz putting his yesterday’s misery behind him to round up the top 5.

It was actually Fernando Alonso, who finished in 5th, but he had his time deleted due to track limits and was demoted down to 9th.

Further down the grid it was a disappointing day for Lewis Hamilton, who failed to get into the top 10 an will start from 12th.

As for Verstappen, his failure to claim pole should not affect his chances to clinch the title later in the evening. The Dutchman only needs 3 points, which means he has to finish 6th, but he might not need to, given teammate Sergio Perez qualified only 8th. If the Mexican finishes outside the top 3, Verstappen is automatically world champion.