Winners and losers from the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix qualifying

A resurgent Oscar Piastri rekindled his championship challenge on Saturday at the Qatar Grand Prix, ahead of McLaren teammate Lando Norris.

Here is PlanetF1.com’s full list of winners and losers from the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix qualifying session.

Winners and losers from the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix qualifying

Winner: Oscar Piastri

It’s perhaps coming a weekend too late to rescue his world championship outright, but at least Oscar Piastri isn’t letting it go without some fight.

An inch-perfect performance in the Sprint event has kicked off his weekend nicely with a few points clawed back in the Drivers’ Championship, and he followed that up by coming out on top in a tense intra-team showdown with Lando Norris.

It’s a performance reminiscent of what he was capable of for the vast majority of this season and, while the results haven’t been there recently, it’s important to note that, aside from Austin and Mexico, he denied having felt significantly off the pace or uncomfortable.

I think there’s just been some races, obviously more recently, where things just haven’t clicked,” he said.

“Austin and Mexico in particular, there were still some opportunities to become a better driver all-round in terms of my driving style and how I adapt to different conditions and different needs from the car. So, I think that’s really it, to be honest.

“I think for probably 90 percent of the season, what I’ve done has worked very well, and I think this weekend’s been one of those.

“But there’ve been certain moments through the year where I’ve realized there are still things to improve on and still ways I can get better.”

With his dip in performance seemingly ending right in the nick of time to set himself up in the best possible fashion for closing the points gap further, Piastri’s mindset had never turned to that of one of defeat, believes team boss Andrea Stella.

“I think even when we were commenting on Oscar struggling a little bit, I’ve always emphasised that there are technical aspects in the way the drivers exploit the grip available and the potential in the car,” he said.

“Here in Qatar, we go back to the category of circuits with high grip.

“In this category, I think Oscar is in his most natural way of driving the car, and he can really maximize the potential available.

“I don’t think it has much to do with mindset or mentality. Oscar has been very solid from a mental point of view, throughout.

“This is just a technical matter. We talk about professional sport at the highest level and, at this level, when you give up 1 percent from a technical point of view, then you may lose a few positions, because the competition is very strong. So technical, not really mindset.”

With Norris lining up directly alongside, the British driver may be coming out second-best to Piastri so far this weekend, but is doing enough to ensure his championship position is not significantly weakened, particularly after coming out ahead of Max Verstappen in the Sprint.

All eyes will be on the start on Sunday, with both McLaren drivers aware that, at a track without much by way of overtaking opportunities, whoever leads into Turn 1 has a huge advantage.

Loser: Max Verstappen

Let me clarify this: Verstappen’s driving is not why I am placing him in this category.

After all, on a weekend where the bounciness of the RB21 is wreaking havoc on his ability to exploit his speed to the maximum, he gave it his best to take fourth in the Sprint, before managing to finish as McLaren’s nearest rival in qualifying.

But there’s a sense that the Red Bull isn’t quite in the hunt for the outright victory, meaning that an already tenuous championship battle is just edging further and further away from Verstappen, despite his relative proximity.

Battling against understeer, he said there are, “still some limitations that don’t allow us to push harder around the lap.

“But at least we’re P3 and we are starting on the second row, and it creates better opportunities, let’s say it like that, because we know that it’s quite hard to pass around here.

“Realistically, it’s a bit tough this weekend. It has just not been what I wanted it to be so far. But we’ll see what we can do.”

Starting third of the three championship rivals, both of whom appear to be comfortable and happy with their McLarens, at a track with few overtaking opportunities and limited strategy options, there’s no doubt that Verstappen’s Saturday ended with him in a worse position than the day started.

Winner: Lando Norris

While Piastri may be having the stronger weekend, so far, of the two McLaren drivers, Norris is still coming out on top against the driver who is, arguably, the greater threat to him, given Max Verstappen’s consistency in the second half of the F1 2025 championship.

A mistake on Norris’ final flying lap meant he aborted the run but, such was his pace on the first flying lap, that he only lost one position to the improving Piastri.

For Norris, he explained afterwards that he wasn’t dwelling on his Turn 2 error, and revealed he felt he’d had more pace in the bag to pull out, had he not failed to keep it error-free.

Having been clearly bested by Piastri’s pace in the Sprint, Norris revealed that he managed to get the car into a sweeter spot on setup when parc ferme restrictions were lifted, putting him in a better position for Sunday’s Grand Prix.

“Obviously, it’s not made me do much better, but I still felt a lot better,” he said.

“I felt like I could at least challenge for pole today. I also had a lot of damage on the car at the end of Q3 yesterday, so I think that certainly helps as well.

“But yeah, it’s second. Obviously, a long run down to Turn 1 is a good opportunity for anyone to gain or lose positions. Apart from that, I think it’s going to be a pretty boring and straightforward race.”

At this critical stage of the championship, boring and straightforward is all Norris needs to bring home his maiden title.

Loser: Lewis Hamilton

Having foundered around towards the back during the Sprint event, finishing 17th overall after an entirely anonymous race, Hamilton did appear to have made a step forward in terms of car feel by the time qualifying rolled around.

But, a week on from his ignominious Q1 exit in Las Vegas, the same fate awaited on him on this occasion as a lack of pace, combined with encountering traffic on his final flying lap, doomed him to 18th on the grid.

Asked by this writer as to what he is missing to give him greater confidence in the car, Hamilton paused to think, with his answer coming after he watched his teammate Charles Leclerc dramatically spin during the Q3 session, in a rare moment of particularly prescient timing.

“Stability,” was his succinct answer, with the car’s relative lack of downforce leading to a difficulty in exploiting the car at the ragged edge.

But, while the car might not be hugely versatile or comfortable to drive, there’s no doubt that Leclerc continues to be able to exploit it to a far greater extent than the seven-time F1 World Champion has been able.

Saying goodbye to the SF-25 can’t come soon enough for Hamilton.

More from the Qatar Grand Prix via PlanetF1.com

? Qatar GP: Piastri ‘busses’ his way to pole position ahead of Norris and Verstappen

? F1 starting grid: What is the grid order for the 2025 Qatar Grand Prix?

Winner: Isack Hadjar

Sixth place in the Racing Bulls, Isack Hadjar knew he’d got the best out of himself when he spoke to the media after qualifying.

The French driver can be quite morose, even with good results, if he believes he hasn’t performed to the best of his ability, but there was no hint of that as he couldn’t keep the smile from his face.

“There was nothing more to get, so I’m happy,” he summed up.

It was a timely performance, coming days before Red Bull’s and Racing Bulls’ driver line-ups are expected to be confirmed and, unlike Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda, who denied a decision has been made, Hadjar revealed he has been given an indication as to where his future lies.

Again, while being unable to hide a smile.

Loser: Franco Colapinto

“I just drove really bad,” was Franco Colapinto’s glum summation of qualifying after finishing 20th and last.

On a day where Pierre Gasly performed heroics yet again to wrestle a recalcitrant A525 into Q3, Colapinto never looked capable of getting anywhere near his teammate’s level.

“It was a poor execution from my side,” he said.

“In two laps, I went off twice. On the first lap, the car was feeling better, but then I went into the gravel, probably damaged the floor a bit, and it was just a bad job from my side in quali.

“Today was a poor session. I’m not happy with my laps and and how I drove.”

Colapinto’s self-criticism and honesty doesn’t beat around the bush, which will no doubt be appreciated by Flavio Briatore et al, but qualifying closer to the level Gasly has proven is possible would probably be received even better…

Winner: Fernando Alonso

The two-time F1 World Champion believes the race isn’t likely to go his way, with heavy tyre degradation going alongside a race pace struggle.

But, on single-lap pace, Alonso explained that he believes the Aston Martin’s weaknesses aren’t quite as pronounced and, at a track that suits the overall package better, he had the confidence to push on in qualifying.

Throwing two fresh sets of tyres at Q1, and doing the same in Q2 without any real expectation of making the final session, the fact the final session was reached came as a surprise for the team, meaning Alonso didn’t have any fresh tyres left for Q3.

Eighth place is unlikely to be where he finishes in the Grand Prix, without some stellar fortune, but Alonso put the car right up there once again.

This was in stark contrast to Lance Stroll’s Q1 elimination, with the Canadian explaining that he’s on the very limit of the pace he can achieve with the feeling he has from his AMR25.

Loser: Yuki Tsunoda

A day of two halves for Tsunoda, with the Japanese driver putting in his strongest showing of the year with a great start to the Sprint, and positioning his car nicely to help ease Verstappen into his eventual fourth place.

With Isack Hadjar revealing that he is aware of his future within the Red Bull hierarchy, any chance of a last-minute reprieve for Tsunoda to keep his seat for next year evaporated in Q1 when he was knocked out, leaving him bewildered as to why things had gone so wrong.

Explaining that he hadn’t felt the car had been significantly different to Sprint Qualifying, where he even outqualified Verstappen, the “small change” he had made shouldn’t have been enough to make such a night-and-day difference in performance, in his eyes.

Clean laps, no errors, but the pace simply wasn’t there and, according to Helmut Marko, he “simply couldn’t repeat his performance” from the Sprint Qualifying.

Winner: Carlos Sainz

Hot off the heels of his strong Las Vegas weekend, Carlos Sainz sliced his way to seventh on the grid in Qatar, while Alex Albon could only manage 15th.

Albon later explained that he had struggled with the tyres, particularly in the first sector, leading to sliding more and overdriving in a bid to compensate.

While overall happier with the execution of his session, Albon’s Saturday didn’t come close to Sainz’s, with the Spaniard delivering upon his promise to come good by season end.

Revealing that his approach to Qatar stems back to ideas he and his team began crafting as long ago as Budapest, taking to the simulator to experiment with these ideas, the setup found gave him the baseline to start the weekend well, and continue that on into qualifying.

Setting a 1:20.2 in Q2, Sainz didn’t believe he could find any more pace and, while his quest wasn’t made any easier by having to get some repairs after some bodywork flew off in Q3, replicated the pace he felt was his peak to take his eventual seventh place.

Read next: Watch out, Lando: Oscar Piastri is back in the game