Piastri wins Qatar sprint in McLaren one-two

DOHA:

McLaren took another stride towards a first Formula One constructors' title in 26 years on Saturday as Oscar Piastri won the Qatar Grand Prix sprint race in a one-two with team mate Lando Norris after swapping places at the chequered flag.

The lead over Ferrari, who had Carlos Sainz finish fourth and Charles Leclerc fifth, stretched to 30 points with 88 remaining to be won from Sunday's race and the final round in Abu Dhabi next weekend.

McLaren will win the championship on Sunday if they score 15 points more than Ferrari.

George Russell was third for Mercedes in the 19 lap race with team mate Lewis Hamilton sixth, Nico Hulkenberg seventh for Haas and Red Bull's Max Verstappen taking the final point a week after securing his fourth successive drivers' title.

The swap at the finish was pay back for Piastri, who gifted Norris a sprint victory in Brazil.

F1 will be a 'battle of giants' with GM entry: RB boss

Formula One will become even more a 'battle of giants' with the arrival in 2026 of General Motors' Cadillac brand as an 11th team, according to RB boss Laurent Mekies.

The Frenchman told reporters at the Qatar Grand Prix that the entry of the U.S. carmaker, announced this week, was positive.

"It's going to be pretty much all car manufacturers probably, except for Williams and us," he added. "Even Haas is also linked to a car manufacturer now ... it's another sign that the sport is going towards the direction of a battle of giants."

U.S.-owned Haas, the newest team on the starting grid and in private ownership, recently announced a technical partnership with Toyota.

Red Bull Racing, RB's big sister team, are producing their own engine from 2026 in partnership with Ford. Of the others, Alpine are owned by Renault, Ferrari and Mercedes have their own works teams while Sauber are becoming Audi in 2026.

Aston Martin will have Honda as exclusive partners and McLaren are a sportscar maker in their own right. Mike Krack, principal of Aston Martin, said GM and Cadillac still faced a "monumental task" to get everything in place for 2026 with a new set of regulations.

The BBC reported this week that the initial anti-dilution fee, split between the existing teams, would be $450m but Williams' boss James Vowles said that had yet to be decided.

"I don't think there's actually any defined amount of dilution fee. I think that's a part of a 2026 Concorde (Agreement), which hasn't been ratified at this point," he explained.

House investigation

A previous bid by Cadillac with Andretti Global was rejected in January by Liberty Media-owned Formula One, who doubted it would be competitive or add value.

That triggered an investigation by the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee into possible 'anticompetitive conduct'.

Team bosses, who had no say in the matter but had previously been against an expansion, felt General Motors coming in as Cadillac with their own power unit from 2028 had made the difference.

"It isn't the same proposition that was there before, in as much as there's a serious commitment and amount of investment going behind it," said Vowles.

Other insiders felt little had changed beyond the removal of the Andretti team name and Michael Andretti as leader, and that the U.S. probe was key. Drivers welcomed the addition of two more cars.

"It's the first time in my career that there'll be 22 on the grid in F1, and that's exciting," said Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

"That will obviously give more opportunities to very talented young drivers that are dreaming to get into Formula One." The new team, as Andretti, has already recruited senior staff -- several who were at Renault -- and set up a factory at Silverstone. Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso, who won two championships with Renault, said they had the experience.

"A new team is never an easy task, but I think they will be well prepared and they have the right people. So, yeah, welcome," he said. REUTERS