Piastre starts first in Qatar

Oscar Piastre won qualifying for the Qatar Formula 1 Grand Prix, BTA reports. The Australian won the sprint earlier in the day and thus moved 22 points closer to his teammate Lando Norris, who will start alongside him in the race.

Norris led for much of the final qualifying session, but Piastre overtook him at the end and won first place with 1:19.387 minutes on the 5.419-kilometer track. The Briton remained second with 0.108 seconds of delay, and champion Max Verstappen was third for Red Bull with 0.264 seconds behind.

Charles Leclerc finished only 13th in the sprint and ranked tenth in qualifying. Lewis Hamilton crashed out at the start with 18th fastest time in the first session and will start from the bottom of the grid.