Qatar Grand Prix: Oscar Piastri on sprint race pole, Max Verstappen third
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Max Verstappen is likely to win the F1 world championship in Saturday's sprint race
Max Verstappen qualified only third for the sprint race in which he could clinch a third world title as McLaren's Oscar Piastri took pole.
The Australian rookie, demoted from fourth place in Qatar Grand Prix qualifying on Friday, beat team-mate Lando Norris by 0.082 seconds.
Verstappen was 0.192secs off the pace, and ahead of Mercedes' George Russell and Ferrari's Carlos Sainz.
Aston Martin's Fernando Alonso was fifth but had his time deleted.
The Spanish two-time champion will now start ninth in the sprint race, which takes place at 18:30 BST.
Lewis Hamilton was only 12th after being knocked out in the second session.
Verstappen's relatively lowly grid position for the race should have little effect on his ability to clinch the championship.
To do so, he needs only to ensure he does not lose six or more points to team-mate Sergio Perez, who starts the sprint eighth.
Both McLaren drivers made amends for track-limits transgressions in qualifying on Friday, which led to Norris being demoted from second to 10th and Piastri from fourth to sixth for Sunday's Grand Prix.
Norris, narrowly fastest from Piastri after their first runs, was chasing Piastri's new benchmark at the end of the session when he ran wide the last corner and had to settle for second.
Piastri, who has impressed with his maturity and calmness as well as his speed in his rookie season, said he was "very happy" with his first F1 pole position.
Behind Sainz in fifth, recovering from failing to make it into the top 10 shoot-out on Friday, was his Ferrari team-mate Charles Leclerc.
Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg impressed with seventh - team-mate Kevin Magnussen was only 19th - ahead of Perez, who also had his best lap time deleted, ahead of the demoted Alonso and Alpine's Esteban Ocon.
The sprint lasts for 19 laps and takes place amid concern about the Pirelli tyres.
Restrictions were imposed ahead of sprint qualifying on Saturday after Pirelli discovered problems in the sidewalls of tyres that had done more than 20 laps on Friday.
Track limits were revised at Turns 12 and 13, two of the fastest on the track, to keep the cars off the kerbs there and drivers have been told they can do no more than 20 laps on a set of new tyres in the grand prix and 22 on a set of used.
There remains the possibility that the race will be mandated as a three-stop if Pirelli sees further problems with the tyres after Saturday's running.
The drivers were unhappy to learn about the changes at the same time as a news release informed the media, and demanded a meeting with Pirelli before running started on Saturday with a 10-minute session to give them time to familiarise themselves with the new track limits.
They asked for clarity about the situation, and running went ahead after they had received it.
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