Five talking points from the Qatar Grand Prix | GRR
Eight points, two races to go. Lewis Hamilton closed the gap on world title leader Max Verstappen with his second Formula 1 victory in a week – and his success at the inaugural Qatar Grand Prix was an awful lot easier than it had been in Brazil. Even without the grid penalty Verstappen incurred for a yellow flag infringement in qualifying, it’s doubtful the Red Bull driver would have beaten his Mercedes-AMG rival under the floodlights at Losail.
Hamilton’s win never in doubt
The seven-time world champion claimed his 102nd grand prix victory without seriously breaking a sweat. On pole position by more than half a second, further weight was lifted from his shoulders when second-fastest qualifier Verstappen was pinged five places on the grid for missing double waved yellow flags at the end of the session.
Predictably, Verstappen made short work of moving back up to second place – it took all of five laps – but by then Hamilton was up the road. The pair moved away from the rest, and when Verstappen committed to a two-stop strategy Hamilton simply shadowed him, kept his car off the kerbs and swept to a comfortable win. Verstappen already had the point for fastest lap in the bag, but made sure by stopping for a third time for a set of soft Pirellis and limited the damage to his dwindling points lead as best he could.
Alonso’s first podium since 2014
Fernando Alonso put in a brilliant performance to score his first podium since the Hungarian GP in 2014 – when he was still a Ferrari driver. The Alpine ace one-stopped, like most of the field, and came under threat late in the race from Sergio Pérez, who came in twice like his Red Bull team-mate and was on a charge on his fresh medium tyres in the closing stages. But a late Virtual Safety Car to clear Nicolas Latifi’s Williams from the side of the track ensured Alonso joined his old rival Hamilton and Verstappen on the podium. It was all he deserved after starting third and showing once again that he’s lost little at the age of 40.
Bottas yo-yos, then deflates
Latifi was one of a number of drivers to suffer a left-front puncture at Losail. Others included his team-mate George Russell, McLaren’s Lando Norris and most significantly Valtteri Bottas. The Finn really was out of luck in Qatar. He too was penalised for a flag infringement, losing three places after missing a single waved yellow. He then made a disastrous start and dropped to 11th, invoking a hurry-up from an annoyed Toto Wolff, then made good progress back up to third. But Bottas was the first to pick up a puncture, on lap 31, and needed a new nose fitted to his Mercedes by the time he made it back to the pits. From there, he rejoined in 14th – and Mercedes chose to retire his car 10 laps from the end.
With Verstappen second and Pérez finishing fourth, the no-score for Bottas was a blow to Mercedes in its bitter battle with Red Bull in the constructors’ championship. Mercedes still leads the way, but only by five points ahead of the Saudi Arabian and Abu Dhabi grands prix.
Ferrari stetches its gap over McLaren
Esteban Ocon was overshadowed by team-mate Alonso, but fifth place was still a decent showing for the Frenchman – as was sixth for Lance Stroll and Aston Martin.
Behind them, the Ferrari pair once again finished in tandem, this time Carlos Sainz Jr. leading Charles Leclerc to a seven-eight finish. What a strange season it is proving to be for the famous Italian team. McLaren’s drop-off in form means Ferrari now looks secure in third – but it is a massive 244 points behind Red Bull. Consistency is great, but the team is completely lacking in the cutting edge it requires to challenge the top two.
But for McLaren, Qatar was something of a disaster. Daniel Ricciardo was totally anonymous in his underwhelming run to 12th, while Norris was undone by his own front-left puncture. The Briton did at least fight back to salvage ninth ahead of the final points scorer Sebastian Vettel, but the Woking team desperately needs to rediscover its mojo in the next two parts of F1’s Middle Eastern triple-header if its once-promising season isn’t to end on a flat note.
Mercedes vs. Red Bull tension gets boring…
Beyond a race that was not exactly a thriller, the Qatar weekend was mostly coloured by the bad feeling that continues to boil away between the top two teams. Verstappen escaped further censure over his driving tactics in defence against Hamilton in Brazil, despite Mercedes calling for his conduct to be reviewed. That was never going to improve the mood… But more seriously, Christian Horner continued his public campaign of openly accusing Mercedes of cheating over the flexibility of its rear wing. A frosty team principals’ press conference on Friday included Horner questioning Wolff over scuff marks on the wing, which he suggested was evidence of excessive flexing. The FIA has responded by revising its load tests to double-check legality – but still Mercedes has yet to fail it. And despite his bleatings, Horner has yet to lodge a protest against his rival.
The punchy team principal was also vocal following Verstappen’s yellow flag infringement, which wasn’t helped by the yellow lights system not being in operation. The FIA said it had sympathy, but still felt a penalty was justified. Horner then scored a low blow by attempting to blame a “rogue marshal” for causing confusion – you know, the volunteers who give up their time to make sure motor races can run… Horner was given a reprimand by the stewards for his comments and later apologised. But his choice of language and general behaviour at the moment leaves a bad taste, and while tension between the top teams is inevitable – not to mention part of the entertainment of top-level motor sport – this rivalry is taking some of the shine from a fantastic duel between Verstappen and Hamilton.
Horner is quite within his rights to fight Red Bull’s corner. Of course he is. But his constant use of the media to cast doubt and sow the seeds of bitterness is getting out of hand. He’d do well to tone it down and fight his battles behind the scenes when F1 heads for Saudi Arabia for the penultimate round next week. But don’t hold your breath on that one.
Images courtesy of Motorsport Images.