QATAR: Absolute blur.
NUMBER TWENTY THREE
Qatar.
The penultimate race. And it did not disappoint…
Think the chaos of Brazil, but with less rain and more penalties.
Sprint is pretty standard – McLarens, Mercedes, Ferraris, plus Hulkenberg and Verstappen on the end. Norris giving Piastri the win is wholesome. Onwards…
Like Brazil, I’m going to speed through the chaos as it happens:
‘Lap 1’
So, Russell starts pole and Verstappen P2 – the latter having lost a grid place holding up the former in quali. Lights out and Verstappen immediately nabs back pole, as Norris slips ahead of Russell into P2. Further back, Hulkenberg flies into Ocon, who flies into Colapinto. MEANWHILE, Albon is tagged by Stroll and they go for a spin. Hulkenberg, Albon and Stroll manage to carry on, but it’s an immediate retirement for Ocon and Colapinto. Safety car time.
‘Into Battle’
Safety car away and we begin again. Verstappen and Norris sit up front, with Piastri getting the jump on Leclerc and chasing down Russell for P3. The big battle though is midfield. We’ve got Magnussen, Tsunoda, Gasly, Alonso, AND THE SAUBERS (!) all competing for P9 and P10, with a flurry of mid race overtakes. Exciting.
‘Bad Vibes’
Things go a tad wrong for Mercedes and Aston Martin. Hamilton gets a 5 second penalty for a false start, while Russell (being chased down by Piastri) suffers a 7 second pit stop and slips down the grid. Alonso struggles on pace and drops to P12, whilst being noted for rejoining the track unsafely. Stroll gets hits with a 10 second penalty for his incident with Albon, comes in and serves it, then retires the car.
‘The Wing Mirror’
Lap 30 and a rogue wing mirror sits in the middle of the track. Out come the double yellow flags. Chasing down Verstappen, Norris is noted (by the Red Bull) for failing to lift under those yellows – more on that later. Bottas then flies over the mirror and we’ve got debris everywhere. Hamilton puncture. Sainz puncture. In they crawl, dropping to P16 and P10 respectively. Then, finally, we get a safety car. The safety car has to lead the pack through the pits while the debris is cleared, at which point Hamilton gets himself another penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Not a good day.
‘Another Restart’
Off they go again and we get a bit of Verstappen Norris wheel to wheel action. Behind them it’s a Leclerc Piastri battle, and behind them Sainz and Gasly fight for P5. Meanwhile, Perez somehow manages to spin his Red Bull into the gravel at about 10mph, just as Hulkenberg beaches his Haas. ANOTHER SAFETY CAR.
‘The End’
We go again. At this point Norris gets hit with a 10 second penalty for failing to lift off the throttle under double yellows. Disaster. He drops down to P15 alongside Hamilton who serves his penalty for speeding in the pits. Not a happy pair. The battle continues for points with Magnussen sailing past Albon for P9, then Bottas creeping into P10, before Norris manages to fly back up the grid and nab that final points place.
So where does that leave everyone. Verstappen, Leclerc and Piastri take the podium places. Russell takes P4, followed by an impressive P5 finish for Gasly, P6 for Sainz, P7 for Alonso, and P9 for Magnussen. Heck of a drive from Zhou Guanyu who takes his first points finish at P8 and is awarded driver of the day, and Norris who climbs back into the points at P10 and takes fastest lap. They are followed by Bottas at P11, Hamilton at P12, the RBs at P13 and P14, and Albon at P15. The rest are all non-finishers.
PHEW!
One more to go…