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DOHA, Qatar — Max Verstappen<\/a> and Lando Norris<\/a> will both be in damage limitation mode for Saturday’s sprint after Oscar Piastri<\/a>‘s surprising pole position added another unexpected twist in F1’s three-way title fight.<\/p>\n Piastri ended his long run of rotten form with a timely return to pole<\/a> in Qatar, catching a massive snap of his car during the crucial final lap to beat George Russell<\/a> to pole.<\/p>\n “It’s been a good day,” said Piastri, who had not had a win since August’s Dutch Grand Prix, which was also his last F1 win. “I think from the first lap we’ve looked competitive and we made some good adjustments into qualifying and everything felt good. I think the last lap was pretty solid, except for one pretty big moment, but clearly it was good enough still. So I’m happy. It’s nice to be back on top, so hopefully we can keep it rolling.”<\/p>\n Norris, who leads both Piastri and Verstappen by 24 points ahead of the penultimate round of the season, ran wide at the end of his own lap to spoil his own chance of lining up on pole position.<\/p>\n Verstappen could only manage sixth.<\/p>\n