Review of the Qatar Grand Prix
Review of the Qatar Grand Prix
Lewis Hamilton’s win at the Qatar Grand Prix means there’s everything to play for heading into the final two rounds of F1 racing action.
The seven-time world champion held his nerve after leading throughout to take another victory with the season coming to a head, keeping his title defence alive as he looks to hunt down Red Bull’s Max Verstappen.
Here’s our review of how all the drama unfolded in Lusail.
Hamilton won’t go quietly
With his back to the wall, Lewis Hamilton produced a stunning win out in Brazil a week before Qatar to keep the Driver’s Championship title race alive against leader Verstappen.
With Verstappen still leading the way, Hamilton essentially needs to win all of the remaining races this season if he is to have any chance of defending his crowd.
And out in Qatar, the seven-time world champion won again, reducing Vertsappen’s lead to just eight points with two races left of the season.
Hamilton’s faultless drive saw him lead from pole position, in a race that he described as ‘lonely’ after he finished the race over 25 seconds ahead of Verstappen in second.
It was his 102nd F1 victory and made it two wins in a row now for the Mercedes driver.
It will also almost certainly heap the pressure on Red Bull heading into the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix on the 5th of December.
Could Mercedes be hitting top form at the perfect time of the season?
Verstappen remains close
Hamilton’s pace over the weekend meant that Verstappen really couldn’t have counted on a win unless he’d gotten really lucky.
After qualifying, Verstappen was set to start second on the grid, but a penalty saw him demoted to seventh, meaning he would need to be at his best to produce a damage-limitation performance when it comes to scoring points.
And the Dutchman produced just that with a second-placed finish.
Finishing just one place behind Hamilton was really the best Verstappen could have hoped for and it means that his title destiny is still very much in his own hands.
While Hamilton’s win means there’s pressure on the Red Bull driver heading into the final two rounds of racing, it could have been much worse had he not finished second.
Alonso makes the podium
Fernando Alonso is one of the greatest racing drivers of all time. But, it’s certainly been a while since the Spaniard stood on top of an F1 podium (2675 days to be exact).
That came way back in 2014 when Alonso finished 2nd in the Hungarian Grand Prix during his Ferrari days.
And on the track at Qatar, the two-time world champion rolled back the years to produce an impressive third-place finish for Alpine.
As a whole, the weekend was a strong one for Alonso, who started on the grid in third after qualifying penalties bumped him up two spots.
He even found himself in second after passing Pierre Gasly on the first lap only to be overtaken by a charging Verstappen.
It was a confident drive from the 40-year-old, who reminded the racing world he’s still got it.