Alonso, takes podium after 7 years; Hami takes win

By Malhaar Khaladkar

Lewis Hamilton took a dominant victory in the first ever Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix, as title rival Max Verstappen recovered from a grid penalty to finish P2 ahead of Alpine’s Fernando Alonso completing the podium, the Spaniard appearing on the podium after 105 races and seven years.

London, 22 Nov. 2021: There was drama before the start of the race as Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas were handed out grid penalties for ignoring double and single waved yellow flags respectively. Hence, Verstappen started P7 and Bottas started P6. This left Lewis Hamilton on pole alongside Pierre Gasly in P2 and Fernando Alonso in P3. Hamilton was starting on medium tyres compared to the other two, who had soft tyres.

Hamilton got off to a clean start covering Gasly and Alonso, hence, he maintained the lead. Alonso swooped around the outside of Gasly in turn 2 to take P2 in the race. Behind the early leaders, Verstappen had a fast start as he got past Carlos Sainz and Lando Norris and was already on the tail of Gasly. Meanwhile, Bottas who had started P6 was down to P11 due to a poor getaway at the start. Similarly, Sebastian Vettel who started P10, dropped down to P17.

Hamilton extended his lead at the front as Verstappen made his way through the field. First the Dutchman cleared Gasly and then got past Alonso to settle in P2 by lap 5. Hamilton meanwhile led by around 4s. Red Bull’s Sergio Perez who started P11 was up to P6 by lap 11. Bottas was given the hurry up by Toto Wolff to be on Perez’s tail as the Finn was stuck in P11. He managed to clear Yuki Tsunoda and Lance Stroll by lap 10.

Hamilton was increasing his lead, now around 7s to Verstappen who in turn was 22s ahead of Alonso, a pit stops worth of gap. Red Bull made duly use of that as they pitted Verstappen at the end of lap 17 for hard tyres. Mercedes covered him as they pitted Hamilton for the same on the next lap, though Hamilton wished to go longer. Gasly was the first person to pit among the top 10, getting rid of the soft tyres on lap 13 for mediums, ensuring that he was on a two-stop strategy.

By the time race reached its halfway distance, Hamilton maintained his lead ahead of Verstappen with now Bottas in third as he was yet to make his first pitstop. Behind him were Perez, Alonso, Gasly, Norris, Esteban Ocon, Stroll and Sainz.

It was bad luck for Bottas as his left front medium tyre got punctured and delaminated on lap 33 as he slid into the gravel before recovering and limping to the pits. This incident reminiscent of the 2020 British Grand Prix. All the teams were on the lookout for their tyre situation after Bottas’ issue.

Verstappen pitted for a second time on lap 41 for medium tyres as Red Bull did not want to risk a puncture like Bottas. Hamilton followed suit the next lap and emerged in the lead. Perez too was pitted for precaution as he dropped down from P3 to P7 with 15s to make up if wanted to get on the podium, currently Alonso running in P3.

Bottas retired on lap 50 due to car damage after his tyre failure. The tyre issues resurfaced as the Williams duo of George Russell and Nicholas Latifi suffered left front tyre failures on lap 50 and lap 52 respectively. Latifi was unable to get to the pits and hence, a virtual safety car was deployed with five laps to go. Verstappen pitted for a set of soft tyres to take the extra fastest lap point during this time.

Hamilton dominated for the second consecutive weekend as he dominated the race with a lights to flag victory and in the process cutting down Verstappen’s championship lead from 14 to 8 points with two races remaining. All Verstappen could do was damage limitation in P2. Alonso had finally achieved his podium after his last one coming seven years prior, helping Alpine go ahead of AlphaTauri in the constructor’s championship. This was helped by the fact that Ocon finished P5. Perez was unable to snatch the podium off Alonso owing to the late Virtual Safety car and had to settle for P4. Aston Martin’s Stroll got one of his best results of the season in P6 ahead of Ferrari duo of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc in P7 and P8 respectively. Lando Norris finished in P9 after running in P6 for most of the race. The Briton suffering a left front tyre failure as well, but McLaren pulled him into pits right on time. Vettel completed a double points finish for Aston Martin in P10.

Gasly missed out on points after starting on the front row as McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo finished behind in P12, his third consecutive scoreless race. Yuki Tsunoda finished in P13 ahead of outgoing Alfa Romeo duo of Kimi Raikkonen and Antonio Giovinazzi. Williams’ George Russell finished in P17, sandwiched between Haas cars of Mick Schumacher in P16 and Nikita Mazepin in P18. Two retirees from the race were Nicholas Latifi and Bottas, both victim to the left front tyre failures.

Mercedes for a second race weekend in a row had superior pace to Red Bull and were dominant in the race. Albeit this time in Qatar they did not exhibit the monstrous straight line speed advantage that they had in the previous races. With Bottas having a DNF Mercedes lost some ground in the constructor’s championship while Hamilton cut down Verstappen’s lead. With the wind in Mercedes’ sails, it remains to be seen if they can show the same performance in the last two races of the season. Red Bull lacked overall pace against Mercedes, in qualifying and race. It was not helped by the fact that Perez was knocked out of Q2 and had to start P11. Red Bull have also threatened to protest against Mercedes’ straight-line speed, specifically the rear wing as the Austrian squad thinks there is something illegal with their rival’s car.

Once again AlphaTauri showed the best qualifying pace of any midfield team in the hands of Gasly and both cars making it into Q3. A slower strategy by the team meant they lost out on points and a constructor’s position to Alpine. Alpine looked racy and on pace since arriving in Qatar as they got a podium and a double points finish. They were unchallenged in the race by other midfield teams, especially McLaren and Ferrari as the French squad exhibited superior race pace. Aston Martin achieved a double points finish as well with Stroll having an understated yet solid drive to P6. Vettel lost positions at the start but was able to recover to P10 showing the decent pace of AMR01.

McLaren had arguably the second fastest car in the midfield behind Alpine in Qatar, evident by Norris running in P6 for most of the race before suffering a puncture. He recovered to P9, meanwhile teammate, Ricciardo had a dismal qualifying and was unable to reach points. McLaren yet again lost out to Ferrari in the constructor’s championship. Ferrari too had a disappointing weekend as they suffered pitstop issues with Sainz and Leclerc’s damaged Chassis meant he lacked the pace throughout. They were relieved as McLaren were unable to outscore them in the constructor’s championship.

Both Williams cars fell foul to the tyre issues as their hopes for any points finishes diminished. Alfa Romeo had a dismal qualifying with both cars getting knocked out of Q1. They recovered some positions but were ultimately unable to challenge for points. Both Haas drivers seemed to have grown their confidence in the car but Mazepin suffered a number of reliability issues this weekend and hence, was off the pace.

Saturday Qualifying Results were:

Note: Verstappen’s fastest Q3 time of 1:21.282 was deleted for a yellow-flag infringement. Bottas and Verstappen penalised 3 and 5 grid places respectively for yellow-flag infringements during qualifying.