Qatar GP Race Report

The drivers were cold in the desert at night, wearing extra layers on the grid and weaving furiously on the formation lap.

It was a good start by Russell but much better by others.  Vesrtappen took the lead and Norris nearly got it but had to settle for second place.  In the first corner, Ocon lost control and ran into both Hulkenberg and Colapinto.  The Haas spun and kept going with the tyre hanging off the rim.  Ocon and Colapinto were out, which was yet another crash Williams did not need, having borrowed parts from old Mercedes cars in order to be able to keep going this season.  Zhou watched Stroll collide into Albon ahead of him and made a comment on the safety of the Aston Martin boss's son continuing driving in F1.  The Safety Car was out.

At the restart there were some winners (Piastri) and losers (Alonso) but Lawson and Bottas had a coming together and both spun off before returning to the track.  Zhou watched this one too.

There were offs up and down the grid.  Hamilton was discovered to have had a false start.  Stroll retired, taking a ten second penalty in the pit lane as he did.  Lawson was also awarded a penalty.

Halfway through, drivers started coming in for a set of new tyres.  Russell was the first of the leaders and had a long stop waiting for a driver to come past in the lane.  He exited in 11th, much worse than Mercedes would have expected.  His team mate was also on the radio grumbling.

Albon's wing mirror came off on the straight and it took everyone a long time to decide what to do about it.  So long in fact that Bottas ran over it (perhaps signalling why he's out of a drive next year as everyone had managed to avoid it for several laps).  It shattered and then Sainz and Hamilton both got bad punctures on the debris.  As there was a mad rush to the pit lane, a Safety Car was called for.   The front runners were able to get a much more efficient stop than Russell had.

It was fast and furious when the race restarted again.  Norris nearly took Verstappen, Sainz attacked Gasly and Piastri and LeClerc battled.  Perez lost drive and then got hit from behind and stopped.  A Virtual Safety Car was called and then Hulkenberg spun out.  A real Safety Car was called for and Mylander went straight back out.  It was the first DNF for Perez for a long time but it won't have made any kind of impact on his racing record this season.  Again some drivers chose to pit.

Another restart and Verstappen was away cleanly but Norris had to defend from LeClerc, who was chasing the Constructors' Championship.  There were cold tyres and five drivers already out, so no one took great risk.

It was then revealed that Norris hadn't lifted under Yellow Flags when the wing mirror was still on the track and was given a ten second stop go penalty.  He came out last.  Hamilton got another penalty for speeding in the pit lane and asked if he could just stop.

With three laps to go Albon was suddenly given a ten second penalty for causing a collision and no one knew why.  Magnussen also had a penalty.

In the end, it wasn't easy but it was easiest for Verstappen to take the win.  LeClerc took a much needed second and Piastri an unexpected third.  Russell will be disappointed with fourth, whilst Gasly should be elated with fifth.  Behind them was Sainz, Alonso, Zhou (finally points for Sauber), Magnussen and Norris.  The Sauber driver also got Driver of the Day.  

Verstappen's engineer made a particularly snide remark about winning whichever side of the grid he started on.  Russell was then awarded a five second penalty for some sort of infringement; he was ahead of Gasly by five seconds though so it meant nothing.

Despite the win, Red Bull were now out of contention for the Constructors' Championship but either McLaren or Ferrari could still win it at the final race of the season.