After the Sprint, Russell said that the twenty people in the cars enjoy the Qatar race and the track but it's boring for everyone on the sofa at home. Verstappen said it would be "a long race and anything could happen." This was a possibility but also a long procession of drivers with no ability to overtake was possible: whoever has been in the lead at the end of lap 1 has gone on to win the race. Even so, I was looking out for awkward double-stacks for a Safety Car, the Safety Car coming out for gravel on track, punctures from gravel on track, Verstappen doing something dangerous to try and get the win, drivers exceeding track limits and how teams would work with the mandated twenty-five lap maximum run on the tyres.
All the English footballers were out in Qatar for the race; it's amazing what money can buy. There was so many sportspeople, it's like they can do laundry well.
And straight off the line, Norris lost second place to Verstappen, whilst Piastri made a golden start. Russell was another big loser, falling to seventh; Hamilton was up to 13th. By Lap 5, Verstappen was complaining about his tyres. Then, on the critical Lap 7 (important for the tyre mandate), Hulkenberg had a coming together with Gasly and was beached in the gravel without one of his tyres (it was deemed a racing incident and looked pretty 50/50). The McLarens stayed out with Ocon but all other drivers came in for new tyres; there were slow stacks for Mercedes and Ferrari. It seemed like a crazy move for McLaren. The releases worked in Williams' favour with Sainz ending up in fourth. Ocon did come in for a pit stop and had to serve a five second penalty, that was announced at the perfect time, for a jump start.
Piastri backed them right up, going very slowly at the restart but it worked out for him. It didn't take long for the sixth place driver, Alonso, to have a train of cars behind him, all following nose to tail. Albon was the first driver to be shown the black and white flag for exceeding track limits.
McLaren pitted when they had to, with Piastri coming in first for a three second stop. He came out ahead of Alonso. Norris came in the next lap and had a better stop, two seconds and was also out in front of Alonso. The relief for the team must have been huge.
On L32 there was chaos in pit lane as most drivers needed new tyres as they were up to the 25 lap limit. Russell almost went into Lawson and Bearman ran over something in his pit and was then given an extra unsafe release penalty as well as losing all the time. He slammed his steering wheel in frustration.
Piastri was casually discussing what his best strategy would be over the radio but Norris was having a wobble. He couldn't get the pace back that he had and went off, believing the car sustained damage as he did so. Verstappen looked like he was going to get a comfortable win because the McLarens were not quick enough and a Safety Car hadn't been needed. What we needed was Stroll to Latifi things up. Piastri came in for a stop that nearly surprised his mechanics. It was a 1.8 second stop by McLaren, which was what was needed. Norris didn't stay out and push but came in soon after and got a 2.7 second stop. He came out after Sainz and Antonelli. Whilst I wanted Norris to do well, I would take a Williams podium over that.
Alonso had a big spin but didn't manage to bring out the Safety Car, it was too late anyway for him to help out his old team. With two laps to go, Hadjar tried to help everyone by getting a puncture, it wasn't Safety Car worthy though. On the last lap, Antonelli went wide and Norris got past him for fourth place. Sainz held Norris off to get the podium; where's Carlando now?
The top ten were Verstappen (who didn't put a foot wrong), Piastri, Sainz (starting from seventh), Norris, Antonelli (making that rookie error in the dying seconds of the race but still ahead of his team mate), Russell, Alonso, LeClerc, Lawson and Tsunoda (in the points at least). McLaren's strategy let them down. Piastri was "speechless" and not in a good way.
We head to next weekend and the final race with Norris still leading the championship by twelve points over Verstappen. Piastri has dropped back to third place, four points behind the Red Bull. Will McLaren ask Piastri to help if it looks like Verstappen will take the Driver's Championship? Having a baby mid-season has done nothing but spur Max on.
It seems amazing that Hamilton has over twice as many points as Sainz, who he pushed out to take the place in Ferrari. Maybe that is the Brit's whinging that muddies the water? Williams have secured fifth place in the Constructor's Championship and it feels unfair that they haven't beaten Ferrari.
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