THE FUSE

Oscar Piastri cut McLaren team-mate Lando Norris' championship lead by two points with victory in the sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix.

The Australian led an uneventful race from start to finish as Norris trailed home behind Mercedes' George Russell, the top three finishing in the order in which they started.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen moved up from sixth on the grid to finish fourth, losing one point to Norris in the championship.

Norris now leads Piastri by 22 points and Verstappen by 25 heading into Sunday's grand prix.

If Norris wins the grand prix, he will be champion. If either Piastri or Verstappen does, then the battle will go to the final race in Abu Dhabi next weekend.

Verstappen made up two places at the start as he followed team-mate Yuki Tsunoda past the Aston Martin of Fernando Alonso, who had excelled in putting his uncompetitive car fourth on the grid, and the Japanese then let the Dutchman past.

Verstappen challenged Norris for the first few laps, even feigning an overtaking attempt on the Briton at one point, but eventually began to drop back complaining of bouncing and jumping from his car.

After the first three corners, the only overtaking move in the points positions was when Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli took advantage of Alonso running wide out of the final corner at the end of lap 12 to pass down the inside of Turn One at the start of the following lap.

Both Tsunoda and Antonelli were given five-second penalties for exceeding track limits too many times, leaving both in the same fifth and sixth positions.

Alonso took two valuable points for Aston Martin in seventh while Williams' Carlos Sainz earned the final point in eighth.

Ferrari had a dire race. Charles Leclerc dropped from ninth on the grid to finish 13th, after two off-track moments, while Lewis Hamilton finished 17th after starting from the pit lane.