(Motorsport) Having already won the Brazilian GP, seven time World Champion Lewis Hamilton also secured first place at the inaugural Qatar GP at the Losail International Circuit, thereby ensuring that the title race is well and truly alive by reducing the points gap from Verstappen to eight. The British racing driver had a dominant weekend throughout and his victory was all but guaranteed when Verstappen incurred a five place grid penalty for a yellow flag infringement during qualifications. With just two races to go in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, the title race can go right down to the wire but the momentum is with Hamilton who has the experience and form to become the first driver to win eight World Championships, breaking Michael Schumacher’s record.
Despite incurring a five place grid penalty less than two hours before lights out, Max Verstappen had a damage control strategy and recovered his grid position of 2nd place in the first five laps. However, Lewis Hamilton was simply too fast and efficient for the Dutchman who was forced to settle for the fastest lap point. Both Red Bull and Verstappen will be extremely concerned with such a dramatic change in fortunes as they were 21 points ahead of Hamilton and Mercedes in the Drivers Standings eight days ago and that lead has been reduced to eight points at such a crucial juncture. They will look to make amends at the Saudi GP on December 5th and Abu Dhabi GP on December 12th as 52 points are still up for grabs.
The battle was not just fought for the first two positions in Qatar as the final position was being contested by the second cars of Mercedes, Red Bull and also surprisingly Alonso’s Alpine. Bottas had a bad start to his race, having already incurred a three place grid penalty for not slowing down on yellow during Q3 of qualification and despite making up the grid positions, the Finn’s Mercedes was then subjected to a punctured tyre and was eventually forced to retire due to car damage, a costly DNF for Mercedes as they hope to retain the Constructors Championship.
Red Bull’s Sergio Perez adopted a two-stop strategy but was simply out of laps in the end to catch up with Alonso who adopted a one-stop strategy. The Spaniard had a bit of luck on his side as he originally qualified in 5th position but penalties to Verstappen and Bottas meant he began the race in third position and was briefly second after overtaking Pierre Gasly. This was Alonso’s 98th podium finish, his first since 2014 when he raced for Ferrari and the 40 year old had much to celebrate about as his team mate Esteban Ocon finished 5th, giving Alpine a major boost in the Constructors Standings, especially considering that Alpha Tauri failed to score any points.
Formula 1’s next race will be held in Saudi Arabia at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit on Sunday, 5th December at 11 pm IST.
