Max Verstappen clinched the win in the action-packed Qatar Grand Prix, with Constructors’ title fighters Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri on the final steps of the podium.
Qatari Chaos All Around as Max Verstappen Wins in Eventful Lusail Race
After McLaren emerged victorious in the final Sprint of the year with a 1-2, Max Verstappen bounced back to take pole for the main race, beating George Russell by approximately half-a-tenth of a second.
However, the 2024 World Champion had been slapped with a one-place grid penalty for unnecessary slow driving on his cooldown lap and impeding Russell, hence dropping to second place.
Overall, the first two parts of the weekend offered unpredictability for race day.
Five cars exited the stage
With the pressure on every team mounting up even more, aiming to do their very best, the penultimate race of the season finally arrived. However, this does not translate well into the track.
As leader of the starting order, George Russell defended his lead out of sheer will. But Max Verstappen successfully took over swiftly.
The first lap saw a multi-car collision at the back of the grid. At Turn 1, an oversteered Nico Hulkenberg collided with Estaban Ocon. Despite getting away from it earlier on, Hulkenberg eventually suffered a puncture and retired from the race.
Franco Colapinto also suffered an early race crash as a result of this collision, which marked another one in the unfortunate string of crashes he has faced in the past few races. All three drivers had to retire early from this round at the Lusail circuit.
After his collision with Alex Albon, Lance Stroll served his 10-second time penalty. On Lap 8, the Canadian retired, leaving Fernando Alonso as the only Aston Martin on the track.
Sergio Perez lost control of his RB20 at the second Safety car restart, spun off and ended up in the list of retirees of the Qatar Grand Prix.
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Appearance of three Safety Cars – and a broken wing mirror
It was only the first lap that invited the first Safety Car of the race due to the incident involving Colapinto, Hulkenberg and Ocon. Hulkenberg went wide and made contact with the Alpine driver, who went on to hit Colapinto.
Alex Albon’s escaped wing mirror left on the track turned out to be another title-deciding consequence.
After Valtteri Bottas‘s Sauber smashed the mirror into debris as he ran over it, it became the likely culprit for Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton’s punctures. As a result, a second Safety Car was needed.
The third Safety car was brought as a result of Hulkenberg who had his Haas in the gravel at Turn 9.
One penalty after another
Without a doubt, penalties were handed to the drivers of the multi-car collision in the first lap.
Another collision called for another penalty scenario. Liam Lawson collided with Valtteri Bottas, with the New Zeelander being handed a 10-second time penalty. The two were chasing after the points.
McLaren’s Lando Norris earned a 10-second stop-and-go penalty due to speeding under the yellow flag, significantly affecting his race.
Lewis Hamilton jumped the start, which caused him a drive-through penalty. It became more demotivating for him as another penalty came along for speeding while the Safety Car led the pack through the pitlane.
A late penalty has been given to fellow Mercedes driver George Russell. The young Brit failed to maintain an appropriate distance between himself and the car in front under the Safety Car.
As previously mentioned, Lance Stroll had been given a penalty for clashing with Alex Albon.
First Sauber points of the season
Justice has been served as Zhou Guanyu took home four points for Sauber, their first points of the year. His career thus far has been negatively affected by this year’s Sauber performance.
After his excellent eighth-place finish, Sauber was finally able to escape the season-long pointless drought and join the other point-scoring nine teams in the standings.
This served as a great departure gift for himself and the team before his exit as he is without a seat for the next season.
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The Constructors’ title fight – to be continued
What would have been the title decider for constructors did not go as expected. McLaren struggled with the timing of pitstops and the Safety Car. This was coupled with Norris’ penalty, which dropped him down the order.
Fortunately, he was able to make his way up the grid and crossed the finish line in tenth place.
Meanwhile, teammate Oscar Piastri clinched the British team’s only podium of the race, saving their lead in the Constructors’ standings.
However, this time the papaya team was outscored by their red rival Ferrari. Charles Leclerc’s P2 finish just ahead of Piastri ensured that they were not giving up the fight for the title.
Now only a 21-point gap, the constructors’ battle extends its way to the final race in Abu Dhabi.
Important statistics from the Qatar GP
Eight out of ten different constructors rounded up the top ten for this race. A beautiful tapestry of this competitive season.
As of this Grand Prix, Oscar Piastri scored his 10th podium in Formula One.
Max Verstappen’s victory in Qatar allowed him to surpass 3000 career points.
Valtteri Bottas’s P11 is his best result of the season, hence leaving the bottom of the Drivers’ championship standings and surpassing Logan Sargeant.
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