It was quite a Sunday evening in Lusail.
LUSAIL, Qatar—In a race with three safety car periods, many penalties, and a few collisions, Max Verstappen had no trouble winning the Qatar Grand Prix Sunday evening with a 6.5-second win over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. McLaren’s Oscar Piastri finished third.
Verstappen got off to a great start, just getting by McLaren’s Lando Norris down the long straight of this circuit. Despite one pit stop where he lost his lead, the Dutchman had no problem staying out in front even though Norris continued to challenge him. But with only a few laps remaining in the race, Norris was hit with a stop/go penalty for ten seconds, which gave Verstappen an insurmountable gap to win his ninth race of the season easily.
Max Verstappen: It was a very good race. Yesterday in qualifying, the car was a lot better, and today, that first stint was very fast; Lando [Norris] and I were doing 1.8 seconds of each other the whole time and pushing each other; it was a lot of fun out there.
Mercedes George Russell, who took pole when Verstappen was penalized, ended up in fourth, while Alpine’s Pierre Gasly made a brilliant effort in holding up the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz and took fifth. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso received more points in an excellent drive to take seventh, with Zhou Guanyu having his best career finish of the season in eighth, giving his Sauber team their first points. Haas F1’s Kevin Magnussen took ninth, while Norris–recovering from his penalty–moved up the grid and finished in tenth.
The race was full of incidents that started right at the beginning. Haas F1’s Nico Hulkenberg struck the Willams of Franco Colapinto, which hit the Alpine of Esteban Ocon and put both out of the race. Hulkenberg continued but was out of the race on lap 40 after spinning off the track.
Williams Alex Albon was involved in a collision with Magnussen, which caused Albon’s rear mirror to fly off and stay on the circuit straight. It took four laps to remove the debris. But it was too late, as Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas struck it first, littering debris all over that part of the track. Mercedes Lewis Hamilton and Sainz hit the debris and suffered punctures, dropping them down the order. Those incidents brought out the second safety car. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez also retired from the race, spinning off the circuit, in addition to the Aston Martin of Lance Stroll, who was involved in an incident with Albon and retired his car later in the race.
Despite his fourth championship, Verstappen had quite a battle against Norris and McLaren. He is relieved that things have gone well for him and the team. “I’m delighted. It has been a long while in the drive to be this competitive, and I’m very proud of everyone on the team who turned it around within a day, so they deserve this victory,” he said.
The final race of the season, the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, will air next weekend on ESPNU and ESPN2.
