Last weekend marked Formula One’s first visit to Qatar, and it definitely gave us a very interesting race, especially in terms of strategy.
Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton took his 102nd win, pushing him a little bit closer to championship rival Max Verstappen – only eight points separate the two drivers going into the final two races. Hamilton pulled off an excellent second victory in the triple header, his seventh win of the year. However, his teammate Valtteri Bottas did not have a similarly glowing weekend, starting the race off with a three place grid penalty (for a yellow flag infringement in qualifying) and eventually being hit with a bad puncture. While the team were able to change the tyre, they eventually retired the car.
It was a good weekend to be a Red Bull supporter – a five place grid penalty for Max Verstappen following events in qualifying dropped him to P7 on the grid, which he made back up extremely quickly. The Dutchman also received a valuable extra point for the fastest lap, which has helped him in the championship battle. As for Sergio Perez, a bad qualifying left the Mexican starting the race in eleventh place, but he was able to turn this into an excellent fourth place result for the team.
Alpine once again showcased some excellent teamwork, and this time it resulted in a podium place for Fernando Alonso, his first since 2014. Teammate Esteban Ocon showed some excellent defending skills in order to help his teammate keep third place, and did the best he possibly could across the entire race.
Ferrari were a little slower this weekend than has come to be expected of them – but still managed to finish with both drivers in the points, with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc 7th and 8th respectively. The team were also able to pull of an excellently quick double-stacked pit stop, and both drivers were able to make Qatar a one-stop race.
McLaren fans will be glad this triple header is finally over, as it has not been a good one for the British based team. Fuel management throughout the race meant that Daniel Ricciardo finished outside of the points once more, and a detected puncture and emergency pitstop for Lando Norris left the British driver in P9, meaning the team took home only 2 points in Qatar.
Race week review
The inaugural Qatar grand prix proved to be just as exciting as the races this season have been with intense press conferences, penalties, new signings and more. At the beginning of the week, Alpine announced current F2 championship leader Oscar Piastri as their reserve driver for the 2022 season. Some hours later, Alfa Romeo announced what many had been specualating for some time, that Antonio Giovinazzi would leave the team at the end of the season. Shortly following that, it was then announced that F2 driver Guanyu Zhou would be his replacement and team up with Valtteri Bottas next season.
Mercedes requested the right to review the incident on lap 48 of the Brazilian grand prix between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. This meant that the team wanted permission of the incident to be looked at for the possibility of a penalty for Max Verstappen.
The drivers had very little experience at the track at Qatar, with most getting experience from practicing on the sim. Only Sergio Perez and Nikita Mazepin had raced on the track before.
In FP1 the drivers were trying to understand the track, getting used to it and trying to find the limits. In this session Lance Stroll suffered a brake failure and Lando Norris suffered floor damage and a power issue. Verstappen, Gasly and Bottas formed the top 3 in sessions 1 & 2, with the Mercedes and Red Bull switching first position between in the 2 sessions.
Lewis Hamilton was in a world of his own in qualifying on Saturday, recording the largest qualifying margin in dry conditions this season. He lead Max Verstappen and Valtteri Bottas and the rest of the field in what seemed to be a tricky qualifying for most, especially for Sergio Perez who qualified 11th. Gasly who has continuously been impressive in qualifying throughout the season finished 4th and Fernando Alonso qualified in 5th place, a great result for Alpine. It was a disappointing qualifying session for Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who only qualified in 13th place along with McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo along side him in 14th.
Pierre Gasly suffered a puncture at the end of qualifying which left him stranded on the finish line where single yellow flags and double yellow flags were waved. Certain lap times that were set under these conditions were investigated by stewards with the results of these investigations announced less than 2 hours before the race on Sunday. The drivers under investigation were Max Verstappen, Valtteri Bottas and Carlos Sainz. The Red Bull was under investigation for this infringement under double yellow flags while the others were for infringement under single yellow flags.
This would play a big part in the championship fight as Verstappen would serve a 5 place grid penalty dropping him down to 7th, while Bottas would serve a 3 place penalty. Sainz would not serve the penalty due to the team providing evidence that the Ferrari significantly reduced his speed when he saw Gasly even though he did not see yellow flags. The confusion with the situation came from the drivers not seeing yellow dashboard warning lights but yellow flags which may have been difficult for them to see, had been waved.
After a reshuffle of the grid so close to the start of the race, Hamilton lined up along side Pierre Gasly who was promoted to 2nd place and Fernando Alonso and Lando Norris in 3rd and 4th position. Verstappen’s great start allowed him to claim 2nd, which Red Bull called “damage limitation” and Fernando Alonso clinched his first podium in F1 since 2014, ahead of the charging Sergio Perez.
After the race Red Bull’s team principle Christian Horner was summoned by the stewards in relation to his comments about a marshal in the confusion of the yellow flag situation which was a breach of the International Sporting Code.
We head to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia next for the first time in what is the penultimate race of an exhilarating season. The gap remains 8 points in favour of Verstappen who looks to claim his first World Drivers’ Championship. But with the momentum behind him, can Lewis Hamilton stop him and become an 8 time world champion?
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