Lewis Hamilton won the Qatar Grand Prix at Losail International Circuit for Mercedes on Sunday to beat Red Bull’s title rival Max Verstappen, while Fernando Alonso ended his F1 podium drought with Alpine.
Hamilton led from start to finish while Verstappen fought his way back from a five-place penalty and finished second with the fastest lap.
Fernando Alonso took advantage of a one-stop podium to finish third despite a series of front left tire damages – which claimed Valtteri Bottas, among others.
Results of the Grand Prix of Qatar 2021
How the Qatar Grand Prix developed
From pole position, AlphaTauri’s Hamilton Pierre Gasly led the long run at Turn 1, while Alonso pushed his way through to second place at the exit of Turn 2. Yellow waved flags in qualifying and immediately moved up to fourth – although Alonso was pushed far at the entrance to Turn 2.
In the second Mercedes, Bottas – who was downgraded by three places after qualifying – made a bad start and fell back to eleventh place.
Hamilton finished lap 1 with a two-second lead, while Alonso Gasly and Verstappen held up. Gasly then ran too far in the last corner on lap 3, so that Verstappen moved up to third. McLaren’s Lando Norris was fourth ahead of Esteban Ocon (Alpine), Carlos Sainz (Ferrari), Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) and Sergio Perez (Red Bull).
Verstappen DRS passed Alonso on lap 5 and finished second which put him in second place but over 4 seconds behind Hamilton. His team-mate Perez worked his way forward and overtook Tsunoda, Sainz and Ocon.
Verstappen reported front wing damage on lap 8, after which Hamilton’s lead was extended to over 5 seconds when Max was instructed to avoid the curbs. Behind Alonso in third place, Gasly was attacked by Norris and Perez, with Norris finishing fourth on lap 12 and Perez Gasly further demoted one lap later. Perez then passed Norris in fourth on lap 16.
Verstappen pitted on lap 18, took hard tires and pitted again shortly before Alonso. Mercedes reacted with Hamilton one lap later, the gap between them – which was over 10 seconds – has now been reduced to 8 seconds.
Bottas made slower progress as he also worked his way forward and moved past Norris to fourth position on lap 23, while Perez pitted before the half-distance and got back into the traffic. Alonso pitted to cover him, so Perez had to overtake him on the track – but they both stumbled upon Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who was doing a long first stint.
Perez overtook Alonso with a spectacular move through turns 1 and 2 on lap 29, giving him the freedom to concentrate on his battle for last place on the podium with Bottas. But that was decided when Bottas’ left front tire burst on lap 34 and he walked into the gravel. After a pit stop, he came back in 14th.
Verstappen pitted again on lap 42 for fresh media, covered one lap later by Hamilton, who picked up scrubbed media with an interval of 8 seconds. Perez stopped too, falling back to seventh, promoting Alonso – who wasn’t going to quit – to third place.
Perez then had to prevail over Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) and Ocon – while Norris had to pit seven laps to go with a punctured tire and Perez finished fourth. Williams’ George Russell then suffered a front left tire puncture and team-mate Nicholas Latifi also suffered an identical retirement.
A late-night virtual safety car was called in to remove Latifi’s stranded Williams. Verstappen pitted again for new softs to secure his point for the fastest lap.
After the race turned green on the last lap, Hamilton won by almost 30 seconds over Verstappen. Alonso defied his one-stop strategy and finished third ahead of Perez, while Ocon led a platoon made up of Stroll, Sainz, Leclerc, Norris and Vettel.
Meanwhile, Bottas had to retire due to a car damage and Gasly ended up outside of the points despite starting from the front row.
