Oscar Piastri made an excellent start in the Qatar Sprint, immediately taking the lead and holding it confidently through the opening corners. Lando Norris tried to challenge George Russell for second place, but the Mercedes driver defended well and kept his position.

Max Verstappen moved up to fourth quickly, showing pace in his Red Bull, while Yuki Tsunoda, Fernando Alonso, Kimi Antonelli and Carlos Sainz completed the top eight early on. Charles Leclerc struggled from the beginning and dropped down the order after running off track at Turn 2.

By lap three, Verstappen attempted to overtake Norris into the first corner, but the McLaren driver managed to stay ahead. George Russell soon created a DRS train with Norris and Verstappen following closely, taking advantage of the system to maintain speed on the straights.

On lap six, Norris lost DRS to Russell, while Verstappen was still within a second, pressing the McLaren driver for third. However, by lap seven Verstappen had fallen slightly further back and could no longer use DRS, while Piastri maintained a lead of over one and a half seconds over Russell, demonstrating strong control and consistency.

Further back in the field, Carlos Sainz lost a small piece of carbon from his car around lap nine, but it did not affect his overall pace. Leclerc continued to struggle, dropping behind Liam Lawson to 14th, while Racing Bulls instructed their driver to return a position to him. Alonso ran wide at the end of lap twelve, which allowed Antonelli to pass and move up to seventh.

At the same time, Tsunoda was shown a black-and-white flag for exceeding track limits and was later handed a five-second penalty. Lance Stroll pitted late for soft tyres, dropping to the back of the field. Verstappen continued to fight, but he could not close in on Norris for third place.

As the race progressed, Piastri reported some vibrations from his car, but he continued to control the pace and keep a comfortable margin. Both Alpine drivers came in for pit stops around lap eighteen, while Verstappen kept pushing but could not make significant gains on Norris.

Into the final laps, the race order began to settle. Piastri remained well ahead, crossing the line to take a strong and deserved victory. George Russell finished in second place, approximately five seconds behind, with Lando Norris completing the podium in third. Max Verstappen came home in fourth, while Tsunoda’s penalty was supposed to drop him to sixth but Antonelli behind also received the same penalty, so they stayed fifth and sixth respectively. Fernando Alonso ended the sprint in seventh, and Carlos Sainz rounded out the top eight.