Verstappen picks up Qatar victory as McLaren make strategy error
Max Verstappen has kept the Championship fight alive by winning the Qatar Grand Prix. The race was effectively decided by McLaren opting not to pit its car under SC, leading to Piastri salvaging to second and Sainz scoring a brilliant podium for Williams.
The Qatar Grand Prix kicked off with the best possible start for pole sitter Oscar Piastri as he enjoyed a clean getaway and maintained first place. Lando Norris on the other hand was quickly attacked by Verstappen and passed before the first corner, the latter likely benefiting from starting on the clean side of the track and enjoying a bit of a slipstream behind Piastri. Norris tried to come back after Turn 3 but Verstappen held on to second place.
Antonelli followed up in fourth place, then Sainz, Alonso, Russell, Hadjar, Gasly and Hulkenberg. Antonelli had a great start and passed his teammate in similar fashion as Verstappen took second place with Russell losing another two positions later on in the first lap.
Hulkenberg gained a position in the start and became the first runner on soft tyres until he crashed off in lap 7. The German attempted to overtake Gasly round the outside of Turn 1 and was pretty much past until Gasly slid wide and into the right rear of the Kick Sauber. Hulkenberg was stunned and indeed couldn't really have done anything else to avoid this incident.
The incident immediately triggered a Safety Car that saw Verstappen, Antonelli, Russell, Sainz, Alonso and most others to pit. The McLaren duo and Ocon were the only ones to continue on the same tyres. Ocon pitted one lap later, deciding to immediately serve his fresh 5s penalty of his false start .
On lap 11 the race went on with both McLarens told to require really strong pace since they will be stopping ahead of everybody else. Those who pitted are projected to stop at lap 32 given Pirelli's absolute tyre limit of 25 laps. Verstappen meanwhile is told not to try to keep up initially, and indeed was already out of DRS range by the end of that lap.
By the start of lap 13, Verstappen was already more than 3 seconds behind Norris, who himself trailed the race leader by 1.6 seconds.
Behind the championship fight, the Mercedes duo didn't fare well in the pitstops as Antonelli fell behind Sainz while Russell lost another position, ending up between Hadjar and Leclerc. Bearman arrived into the top 10 as Gasly continued in last position and Hulkenberg watched from the sidelines.
On lap 21, Piastri's advantage extended to 3.5s over his teammate and an extra 4.3s on Verstappen. Sainz followed more than 7 seconds behind the Red Bull with those behind him considerably closer, but not in a position to overtake. That lap also indicated Piastri starting to complain about his front left, resulting in a pitstop for him at the end of lap 24, a stop that took 3.1 seconds.
Piastri returned in 5th, 7 seconds behind Antonelli but ahead of the train led by Piastri. Norris pitted the next lap and enjoyed a better pitstop. It was marginal, but he too returned to the track ahead of Alonso, Hadjar, Russell, Leclerc and Bearman.
Piastri immediately recorded the fastest lap and closing in onto Antonelli by more than a second a lap. By the end of lap 29 Piastri had DRS and didn't sit about, immediately diving to the inside of Turn 1 to pass the Mercedes at the first opportunity.
At the end of lap 31, Norris had DRS on Antonelli and Piastri on Sainz, but this time neither managed to make a pass. The next lap however everybody but the McLaren's had to pit as their tyre life had reached 25 laps.
Piastri therefore took over the lead of the race with Norris at 4 seconds and Verstappen then third, slightly less than 4 seconds behind Norris. The stops didn't really change much with most switching to the hard tyre. Bearman however dropped to 18th after trying to leave the pits too early, requiring his team to property fix the rears before enabling him to get going again. Bearman badly slammed his steering wheel out of frustration moments later as he saw a possibly points finish disappear.
As Piastri continued unperturbed, Norris suddenly had a moment on lap 38 after noting he was struggling a bit. The mishap saw him lose 2 seconds to Piastri while Verstappen also closed in to about 1.5 seconds.
On lap 41 Piastri also kicked up some gravel and discussed stopping somewhat earlier than planned. Norris meanwhile saw Verstappen coming ever closer with the tyre difference with the hards on Verstappen's car becoming ever bigger.
The end of lap 42 is when Piastri dove into the pits to change to hard tyres. Piastri returned to the track in third place, 17 seconds behind Norris and Verstappen who by then were glued together. Norris got pitted two laps later, returning to the track down in 5th and promoting Sainz into a podium position.
Meanwhile Fernando Alonso also had a moment and spun 360 degrees on track. He saved it brilliantly but saw Hadjar and Russell pass him, turning 6th into 8th position.
At the start of lap 51 of 57, Piastri was still 12.7s behind Verstappen. Sainz followed by 10 seconds, then Antonelli another 2.7s behind with Norris chasing the Mercedes but not easily finding a way to pass. Sainz was meanwhile losing to Antonelli, reporting understeer in high speed and suspecting an aerodynamic piece fell of his car.
2 laps from the end Norris was still stuck behind Antonelli as the duo had nearly come in DRS range of Sainz. Hadjar on the other hand suffered a puncture and dropped out of the points.
In the penultimate lap Antonelli slowed down in sector 2 and gave Norris an easy pass into 4th place. Verstappen's engineer suggested he simply let Norris past. It was clear though that oversteer in the high speed Turn 10 forced Antonelli to back off, allowing Norris to gain a position that might prove important in the Championship battle.
Luckily for Verstappen and fans, McLaren's strategical error kept the Championship battle alive, but in such a way that Verstappen moved up to second in the Championship, surpassing Piastri who was left seriously disappointed after having done everything right this weekend.
