Dark. Dry. Air +32…31С, highway +37…36С
At the start of the race in Qatar everything was decided. Red Bull Racing won the constructors’ championship ahead of schedule in the final stage in Suzuka, and Max Verstappen guaranteed the title in the individual competition in the Saturday sprint the day before. But some questions remained unanswered, and the most important was the outcome of Sunday’s race, as on Saturday it looked like the sprint ended in the most interesting place.
Another major problem is tire damage on curbs, which the FIA considered dangerous. The drivers were informed about this on Saturday afternoon, although the FIA knew this on Friday. In the section of turns 12-13, the edge of the track was moved 80 centimeters further from the “pyramidal” curbs, preventing riders from crossing them, for which they even provided additional training so that they could determine the trajectory.
During the weekend there was only one practice with the sprint, the teams could not really work with the tires, assess their wear, and in the sprint it turned out that those who started on Soft had a speed advantage for some time, and then rolled sharply back. The teams took this into account when choosing their strategy.
As a result, the FIA ordered drivers to run no more than 18 laps on one set of new tires, with the driver being black-flagged if infringed. For each of the rolled-in sets, Pirelli calculated the maximum possible number of laps.
On Friday Max Verstappen drove confidently in the lead, showing the best time in practice and winning qualifying, but the Sprint Shootout on Saturday and the sprint was won by Oscar Piastri – the McLaren cars were very fast this weekend, but in the qualifying stewards deprived the team drivers of the best results because they left the track, causing them to start from behind in the Grand Prix.
Verstappen and Russell started the race from the front row of the starting field, Hamilton and Alonso from second, Leclerc and Piastri from third. After Saturday’s accident, Perez’s car was reassembled and the power plant was also replaced – he started from the pit lane. Carlos Sainz was unable to participate in the race due to fuel system problems.
For the sixth time this year (and the second in a row), the teams received three ‘hard’ compositions: C1, C2 and C3 as Hard, Medium and Soft.
Hamilton, Bottas, Lawson and Magnussen opted for Soft for the first stint, Perez started the race from the pit lane on Hard, the rest started on Medium.
Verstappen retained his lead at the start. Russell and Hamilton collided while attacking Max, sending him off track. After the race, Lewis took the blame.
Lewis stopped fighting, George reached the pits and continued. “I got knocked out by my own teammate,” Lewis said. The safety car came out.
Top ten in round 2: Verstappen – Piastri – Alonso – Leclerc – Ocon – Norris – Gasly – Tsunoda – Bottas – Hulkenberg.
On lap 4 Bottas, Magnussen, Stroll and Lawson changed tires.
A restart was announced on the 5th lap. Verstappen retained the lead and quickly gained ground on Piastri.
On lap 6, Hulkenberg passed Tsunoda for eighth place.
The stewards gave Hulkenberg a 10-second time penalty for taking pit lane starter Perez’s position on the grid.
Russell moved ahead of Perez, Zhou and Sargent to 11th.
On the 10th lap Tsunoda changed tires, on the 11th – Ocon, on the 12th – Alonso and Gasly, on the 13th – Piastri and Leclerc, on the 14th – Norris, Hulkenberg and Sargent, on the 15th – Russell.
Raam vomited due to the high temperature in the cockpit, but he continued to fight
On lap 16, Alonso overtook Magnussen for eighth place.
Leclerc overtook Magnussen, Ocon – Lawson, Piastri – Stroll.
In the 17th lap, Verstappen made a pit stop, in the 18th – Perez, in the 19th – Albon and Zhou.
On lap 20, Alonso passed Bottas for third place.
Top ten in round 20: Verstappen – Piastri – Alonso – Bottas – Stroll – Norris – Leclerc – Ocon – Gasly – Russell.
On lap 21, Norris passed Stroll for fifth place.
On the 22nd lap Bottas, Stroll, Magnussen and Lawson changed tires, on the 23rd – Tsunoda.
Albon and Perez were shown a black and white flag for repeated violations.
On the 26th lap, Piastri, Leclerc and Ocon made a pit stop, on the 27th – Alonso, Gasly and Sargent.
Perez received a five-second time penalty for violation.
On lap 28, Norris and Hulkenberg switched tires.
On lap 29 Piastri passed Albon for fourth place.
On lap 31, Leclerc overtook Stroll for 10th place.
On lap 32 Perez and Albon made a pit stop.
On lap 34, Alonso turned into the gravel, missed Leclerc, but continued.
On the 35th lap, Verstappen changed tires and retained the lead in the race, on the 36th – Zhou.
Top ten in lap 37: Verstappen – Piastri – Norris – Russell – Leclerc – Alonso – Bottas – Ocon – Stroll – Gasly.
On lap 38, Gasly overtook Stroll for ninth place.
Perez received another five-second penalty for fouling.
On the 40th lap Bottas, Stroll, Magnussen, Lawson and Hulkenberg changed tires, on the 41st – Tsunoda.
On lap 41, Sargent complained to the team that he was not feeling well, slowed down and turned into the pits, where he retired and struggled to exit the car. Doctors came to the Williams pits and after the finish Logan’s partner went to the doctors – Alex Albon suffered a heat stroke.
Stroll, Gasly and Albon received a five-second penalty for infringement.
In the 44th lap, Piastri, Leclerc, Ocon and Perez changed tires, in the 45th – Norris, Alonso, Gasly and Albon, in the 51st – Russell, in the 52nd – Verstappen, retaining the lead, in the 53rd – Zhou .
Gasly received another five-second time penalty for a violation.
Max Verstappen won the Qatar Grand Prix and scored the 49th victory of his career and the 14th of the season.
Saturday’s sprint winner Oscar Piastri climbed to the second step of the podium, his teammate Lando Norris finished third.
In two weeks the battle will continue in Austin, where a series of three Grand Prix in a row begins.
Race results
| Pilot | Team | Time | Speed | Pete |
| 1. M. Verstappen | Red Bull | 1:27:39,168 | 211,250 | 3 |
| 2. O. Piastri | McLaren | +4,833 | 211,056 | 3 |
| 3. L.Norris | McLaren | +5,969 | 211,010 | 3 |
| 4. D. Russell | Mercedes | +34.119 | 209,888 | 4 |
| 5. S. Leclerc | Ferrari | +38.976 | 209,695 | 3 |
| 6. F. Alonso | Aston Martin | +49.032 | 209,298 | 3 |
| 7. E. Okon | Alps | +62.390 | 208,773 | 3 |
| 8. V. Bottas | Alfa Romeo | +66.563 | 208,609 | 3 |
| 9. G.Zhou | Alfa Romeo | +76.127 | 208,235 | 3 |
| 10. C. Perez* | Red Bull | +80.181 | 208,077 | 3 |
| 11. L. Walk* | Aston Martin | +81.652 | 208,020 | 3 |
| 12. P. Gasly* | Alps | +82,300 | 207,995 | 3 |
| 13. A.Albon* | Williams | +91.014 | 207,656 | 3 |
| 14. K. Magnussen | Hare | +1 round | 207,491 | 3 |
| 15. Yu.Tsunoda | AlphaTauri | +1 round | 207,187 | 3 |
| 16. N. Hulkenberg | Hare | +1 round | 206,947 | 3 |
| 17. L. Lawson | AlphaTauri | +1 round | 206,476 | 3 |
* – Perez, Stroll, Gasly and Albon were fined 5 seconds for infringement
Best round: Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing) – 1:24.319 (57th lap, 231.364 km/h)
Reasons for the meetings
| Pilot | Team | Kroogov | Cause |
| K. Sainz | Ferrari | 0 | fuel system |
| L. Hamilton | Mercedes | 0 | accident |
| L. Sargent | Williams | 40 | welfare |
Championship Position: Individual Competition
Championship position: Constructors’ Championship
| Team | Engine | Glasses | |
| = | 1. Oracle Red Bull Racing | Honda RBPT | 657 |
| = | 2. Mercedes-AMG PETRONAS F1 Team | Mercedes | 326 |
| = | 3. Scuderia Ferrari | Ferrari | 298 |
| = | 4. Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant F1 Team | Mercedes | 230 |
| = | 5. McLaren F1 Team | Mercedes | 219 |
| = | 6. BWT Alpine F1 Team | Renault | 90 |
| = | 7. Williams Racing | Mercedes | 23 |
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8. Alfa Romeo F1 team stakes | Ferrari | 16 |
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9. MoneyGram Haas F1 Team | Ferrari | 12 |
| = | 10. Scuderia Alpha Tauri | Honda RBPT | 5 |
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
