Qatar Grand Prix: Verstappen closes championship gap to Norris; McLaren with a pitstop fumble that causes championship repercussions.
- Cassandra Nicholls
- 5 hours ago
- 3 min read
The weekend in Qatar was meant to ensure both Lando and Oscar extended their lead to Max Verstappen in the title championship chase, instead it did the exact opposite. The conditions were hot, as always in Doha and there was very little that could affect the track. With a sprint race the day before, everything was up for grabs, especially for the top 3, still in the championship fight.
It was a weekend for Max Verstappen as he continued his streak to close the gap to the with only 12 points standing between Norris and Verstappen heading into the final race in Abu Dhabi. He adds another win to his stats, just ahead of Oscar Piastri in P2 and Carlos Sainz in P3. Lando Norris would just miss out on a podium opportunity finishing in P4.
With the early safety car, almost every team pit for new tyres, except McLaren who were planning on playing the “long game”. This would not work in their favour and would result in their placements on track. It was ultimately not the right decision having to lose track position to rival Verstappen.
The Mercedes pairing of George Russell and Kimi Antonelli had a decent race result with the two finishing within the top 10 for yet another weekend. Kimi Antonelli finished just above his teammate after a minor error resulted in him losing P4, he would finish P5 just ahead of Russell in P6.
Fernando Alonso managed to make it to P7, amidst all the chaos of the race and the lack of overtaking opportunity as well. Charles Leclerc had a frustrating race stuck behind the Aston Martin of Alonso. Leclerc would go on to finish P8. P9 and P10 would go to a Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson and a RedBull of Yuki Tsunoda. Similarly, both were stuck in a DRS train behind the Aston Martin and Ferrari and with very little opportunity to make a move on track, the result was set in stone.
The Alpine duo had another lackluster weekend, again being stuck in the large DRS train, but with Gasly carrying damage after the collision with Nico Hulkenberg early in the race it was going to be difficult. As for Colapinto, there was very little the young driver could do to gain on track position. They would finish P14 with Colapinto and P16 with Gasly.
Alex Albon had another weekend with an almost top 10 position. He finished just out in P11, with pace on the car and plenty of potential, but unable to make any moves up the field. Albon would go on to finish P11. Lewis Hamilton was going to have a difficult weekend due to qualifying P17. Having made a few positions in the first few laps, eventually Hamilton got stuck, unable to move beyond P12 and having to settle just outside the points like Albon.
Gabriel Bortoleto and Esteban Ocon both had a quiet weekend once again stuck and not able to gain track position, which would result in where they had ended up. It was a slow and uneventful weekend for the two of them. Bortoleto would finish P13, whilst Ocon would finish P15.
We had 4 DNFs and it was Nico Hulkenberg after a collision between himself and Pierre Gasly which caused significant damage to the car and resulted in him being unable to continue. The other drivers were Ollie Bearman, who retired after serving his 10 second penalty for an unsafe release, Isack Hadjar and Lance Stroll.
We are at the final Grand Prix this weekend in Abu Dhabi. It is still all to play for, for Lando Norris, Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen. Only one can win the championship, so will it be a first world championship for Norris or Piastri or a fifth one for Verstappen?
Comments