Oscar Piastri-Lando Norris sprint one-two in Qatar for McLaren

Oscar Piastri won the sprint race in Qatar ahead of team-mate Lando Norris as McLaren closed in on a first constructors' title in 26 years.

Much has been made of Norris’ lacklustre starts this season but the British driver blasted away from pole before playing the team game to help Piastri.

Norris then moved over for Piastri at the final bend after they traded positions in Brazil earlier this month.

George Russell finished third, while Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc were fourth and fifth respectively for Ferrari.

McLaren, who last won the team title in 1998, now hold a 30-point lead over Ferrari with 88 points to play for over the final two races.

Lewis Hamilton finished sixth, with newly crowned four-time world champion Max Verstappen only eighth.

Norris bounced back from his championship defeat to Verstappen in Las Vegas by beating Mercedes’ Russell to pole position, and he made no mistake with his getaway – something that could not always be said this season – to lead into the first corner.

Behind him, Piastri was on the move to fend his way past Russell and secure second.

Verstappen was unusually sluggish, dropping three places to ninth, while Hamilton – who declared he "definitely isn’t fast any more" after he qualified only seventh, five places behind Russell in the other Mercedes – made up two spots to fifth.

Norris looked comfortable up top but Piastri was soon under pressure, slamming the door shut on Russell at the first corner on the fourth lap.

Russell, who claimed his third career win in Las Vegas a week ago, yelled over the radio: "He just f****** turned into me."

With Russell crawling all over Piastri’s McLaren gearbox, Norris dropped back to ensure he was not more than one second clear of Piastri – and thus