© Vladimir RysMax Fights To P2 And Fastest Lap In QatarBulls deliver a well-earned P2 and P4 at the debut Qatar Grand Prix.
MaxVerstappenshruggedoffafive-placegridpenaltytoclaimsecondplaceandthepointforfastestlapattheQatarGrandPrix,limitingthedamagetohischampionshipleadoverLewisHamilton,astheMercedesdriverwonF1’sfirstraceattheLosailInternationalCircuitfrompoleposition.
Sergio Pérez, meanwhile, recovered from a Q2 exit in qualifying and an 11th-place start to surge through the pack and claim a hard won and well-deserved fourth place at the flag.
Taking On The Apex On Mediums© Getty Images
Max’s 16th podium finish of the year was sealed on the first lap. Just two hours before the race, the Dutch driver was demoted to seventh on the grid after the stewards ruled that he had not obeyed double waved yellow flags at the end of qualifying following Pierre Gasly’s Q3 crash.
However, when the lights went out at the start, the championship leader made a brilliant getaway, slipping between Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas and Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz as they headed to turn one. And after cleverly hugging the inside line through the opening corner he found himself in P4 after turn two, despite kicking up the dust when Alpine’s Fernando Alonso drifted wide as they approached the apex.
Max was then quickly past Gasly. The AlphaTauri man went wide in the final corner as DRS was activated and Max breezed past on the pit straight. And on lap five he made the same move past Alonso to claim P2, 3.7s behind Hamilton.
Further back, Sérgio Pérez was also on the march and after powering past Esteban Ocon on lap nine he had climbed to sixth place.
Checo Close To The Line On Mediums© Getty Images
The soft tyre starters began to make pit stops at the end of lap nine, with AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda visiting the pit lane at the end of lap nine for medium tyres. Ahead, the Japanese driver’s teammate Gasly was passed by Checo and with fifth place ceded to the Mexican, AlphaTauri pitted the Frenchman.
Checo now began to chase down McLaren’s Lando Norris. The McLaren driver’s soft tyres were beginning to fade and Checo made light work of claiming fourth place by easing past the Briton at the start of Lap 18.
Max then made his first visit to the pit lane at the end of lap 17, taking on hard tyres in a 2.2s stop. Mercedes responded on the next lap and after a similar swift switch to Hard tyres Hamilton re-joined in the lead, the full length of the pit straight ahead of Max.
Checo then made his stop at the end of lap 19 and after taking on hard tyres, he began to once again scythe through the order, making his way back to P5 by lap 28, behind Alonso.
He attacked at the start of the following tour and after feinting right, which caused Alonso to cover aggressively, Checo moved left and went to the outside of the Alpine through turn one. Alonso hung on to his line and the pair went through turns two and three wheel-to-wheel. However, armed with a better exit from three, Checo was able to muscle past to take fourth place.
Sunset At The Losail International Circuit© Getty Images
At the front, Hamilton was comfortable and held a seven-second gap to Max at the end of lap 33. Bottas was in trouble though, suffering a puncture on lap 34. He went off track mid-way through the lap and re-joined and that allowed Sergio to close in and sweep past the Mercedes man to claim third place. Bottas made it back to the pit lane but after an 11-second stop for hard tyres and a new nose, the Finn re-joined in P14.
On lap 40, Hamilton was 8.5s ahead of Max, with Checo 52.8s behind his teammate. Alonso now held fourth place ahead of Norris, with the second Alpine of Esteban Ocon in sixth place ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and the Ferrari’s of Sainz and Charles Leclerc. Vettel held P10 ahead of Gasly who had made a second pit stop.
Max made his second pit stop at the end of lap 41, taking on medium tyres in a superb 2.1s stop. Checo followed moments later and he too went for mediums, re-joining in P7 with Stroll, Ocon and Norris.
Stroll was dispatched swiftly and then the Mexican attacked Ocon at the start of lap 48. He powered past the Frenchman around the outside into turn one and though the Frenchman tried to fight back, resistance was futile and Checo took P5. He was, however, 15 seconds behind Fernando Alonso with Norris still in the way in P4.
Qatar Grand Prix 2021: Race
Max Finishes P2 In Qatar© Getty Images
Perez Battling Well In Busy Corner© Getty Images
Checo Going Flat Out On Mediums© Getty Images
Max Pleased With P2 Finish In Qatar© Getty Images
The Bulls In Action Lap 1© Getty Images
The Bulls On The Overtake Charge© Getty Images
Max Thanks The Fans In Quali Session© Getty Images
The race then took another turn in the final laps as Norris and both Williams drivers, who were both attempting one-stop races, suffered front-left punctures similar to the one that eventually caused Bottas to retire.
The damage to Norris was not severe and the McLaren driver was able to return to the pits. He dropped to ninth, however, and Checo was boosted to fourth place, 11 seconds behind Alonso. Williams’ George Russell was next to suffer and when teammate Nicholas Latifi went off track and his car proved hard to recover, the VSC was deployed.
Checo was just six seconds behind Alonso under the caution but with a single lap of racing left when the track eventually went green again, the Mexican driver was forced to settle for fourth place behind Alonso, who took his first podium finish in seven years.
Ahead, Hamilton took the chequered flag to claim his seventh victory of the season. Behind him Max, who had earlier set the fastest lap, made sure of the extra point on offer by taking on soft tyres for a final tour of 1:23.196.
Max’s P2 leaves him eight points ahead of Hamilton with two races remaining, and in the Constructors’ battle, the Team is now five points behind Mercedes.
Behind the top four, Ocon finished fifth for Alpine ahead of Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll and the Ferraris of Sainz and Leclerc. Norris finished ninth and the final point went to Sebastian Vettel in the second Aston Martin.
Max Lifting The P2 Trophy In Qatar© Getty Images
Max Ready For Championship Fight© Getty Images
I had fun today, especially when going for the fastest lap.
“I’m of course happy with the result today. This weekend has been quite difficult for us as a Team and we are still lacking pace, I tried everything I could after the five-place grid penalty so to finish in second and score the fastest lap is really good.
I had an exciting start and I knew that the first few laps were really important, I had a good launch and I was fairly quickly back in to second place, from there I tried to keep the gap small and that worked out quite well. I had fun today, especially when going for the fastest lap. It’s a shame that Checo didn’t make it to the podium today, he scored good points for the Team.
I’m also happy for Fernando, we all know how good he is, there’s no doubt about that. For now, we need to stay focussed, there are still two races left to go and a lot of things can happen, anything is possible.”
Checo Poised For Tight Battle© Getty Images
“We managed to recover from qualifying and moved through the grid quickly from P11, we were in a very good position to be on the podium but unfortunately it didn’t work out. It was a very exhausting race, I was flat out the whole time, overtaking and pushing. We were changing our strategy throughout the race; at some stages we were going for one stop and at others two, but others’ tyres were exploding so we had to protect ours to prevent getting a puncture and maximise our position in the Constructor’s Championship.
I think we had the podium in our pocket but for the second week running a virtual safety car has potentially cost us. I don’t know if without it we would have definitely caught up with Fernando, but we would have been close. It is a bit of a shame but we managed to minimise the damage from Saturday and Valtteri didn’t score any points which is a big benefit to us. Ultimately, I think from a Team point of view we had to play it safe with the constructors in mind.
Where we have finished today is a good result for the Team and the longer-term picture, we just have to keep pushing hard and improve our performance in the next two races. Now I am looking forward to Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi because we are going to give it everything, we have a big chance to come on top of the Constructor’s Championship, there is five points in it, it’s all to play for and that is the target.”
Christian Ready For Tight Championship Battle© Getty Images
We are now just five points behind in the constructors’ championship and eight points in front in the drivers’ championship.
“Today was a big day, I think Max’s recovery on the first lap was stunning and his first two corners were sensational. Mercedes had a quicker car with Lewis today, but we were able to come back at them in the second and third stint. Whilst we haven’t got quicker, our straight-line speed was competitive today and the fact that Max was able to get the fastest lap before switching to softs was encouraging.
Checo was unlucky not to finish on the podium today, I think without the VSC he would have been right with Alonso on that last lap, but he had a great drive and earned us some valuable team points. It’s been a long time since Fernando was on the podium so it was also nice to see him up there. We are now just five points behind in the constructors’ championship and eight points in front in the drivers’ championship, so there are two very big races to come and it’s all to play for.
We are going to work hard next week and improve the car as much as we can and see what we can do in Jeddah. I’d like to make it clear that marshals do a wonderful job and our sport could not operate without them volunteering their time, so if any offence was caused I unreservedly apologise, my frustration was with the decision that had been made and not with any individual.”
| Position | Driver | Team | | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| Lewis Hamilton | Max Verstappen | Fernando Alonso | Sergio Pérez | Esteban Ocon | Lance Stroll | Carlos Sainz | Charles Leclerc | Lando Norris | Sebastian Vettel |
| Mercedes | Red Bull Racing Honda | Alpine | Red Bull Racing Honda | Alpine | Aston Martin | Ferrari | Ferrari | McLaren | Aston Martin |
