The Austrian team Red Bull Racing lived a weekend of light and shadow, since, on the one hand, its star Max Verstappen he won his 9th race of the season and, on the other, Sergio Perez was out of the points.
The Dutchman Verstappen, who mathematically became four-time world champion last weekend in Las Vegas, won the Qatar Grand Prix this Sunday, the penultimate of the World Cup, although Red Bull is no longer entering the fight for the Constructors’ Championship, which will be decided between McLaren and Ferrari at the Lusail circuit in Abu Dhabi the last of the season.
“Mad Max” won ahead of the Monegasque Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) and the Australian Oscar Piastri (McLaren), which, in that order, they completed the podiumeither. In a race that the Spaniards Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) and Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) finished sixth and seventh, respectively; and in which The Argentine Franco Colapinto (Williams) abandoned – in the first lap – and the Mexican Sergio Pérez, in the fortieth of the 57 laps that took place this Sunday.
The Englishman George Russell (Mercedes), who had just won in Las Vegas and who had started from pole after the penalty to ‘Mad Max’, finished fourth in a test in which his compatriot Lando Norris (McLaren), suspended for the same with a ‘stop and go’ of 10 seconds – in order not to reduce his speed with yellow flags – when he was running second, he finished tenth in a race that was expected to be flat and was quite crazy: with accidents, punctures (among them Sainz), investigations, penalties and three safety car entries onto the track.
The Bristol driver minimized damage and added the point for the fastest lap in the race to the point achieved for that position. He remains second in the World Cup, but now with only eight points ahead (349 compared to 341) over Leclerc.
McLaren, which could have left it mathematically resolved this Sunday, continues to lead the Constructors’ World Championship – with 21 points ahead of Ferrari (640-619) – which will be decided in the last Grand Prix of the season, Abu Dhabi. next weekend at the Yas Marina circuit.
Verstappen once again demonstrated his insatiable condition and since on Saturday, after his performance in the main qualifying session, a curious penalty – loss of a place on the grid – had taken away his forty-first pole position in the premier class, he He took revenge, raising his win ratio in F1 to 63. The third of all time. Behind the 105 of the Englishman Lewis Hamilton, twelfth this Sunday with the Mercedes; and the 91 of the other seven-time world champion, the German Michael Schumacher.
The Dutch star, for going slower than he should during the preparation lap in Q3, in which he bothered Russell, ended up necessarily giving up pole position to the Englishman, who thus celebrated his fifth first place on a grid of F1.
From the second row, aiming for the constructors’ title, came the McLarens, who had signed a ‘double’ in Saturday’s sprint, with Norris -third on the grid- giving up the victory just before the finish line to Piastri, in gratitude to her. action carried out by the Australian in Brazil, when Lando still had a mathematical chance of winning the World Cup.
The fourth row was purely Spanish, with Sainz starting seventh and Alonso, eighth. Behind Leclerc -fifth on the grid- and Hamilton; and just ahead of ‘Checo’, who started ninth, next to the Dane Kevin Magnussen (Haas), who would end up occupying that place at the end. Colapinto, after a start to the weekend full of setbacks, did so from nineteenth place.
The entire grid chose to start with medium compound tires, except for the German Nico Hülkenberg (Haas), who started with hard tires from eighteenth place, one ahead of the Buenos Aires driver.
Russell went wrong; and in one fell swoop, in the first corner, Norris and Verstappen passed himwho took the lead. Just before Colapinto’s accident – without regretting any personal injuries – when he collided with the Frenchman Esteban Ocon (Alpine), who was also out of the race in that incident.
The safety car came in for four laps and at the restart of the race, ‘Mad Max’ maintained the lead ahead of Norris and Russell, attacked by Piastri. Sainz had gained a place and was running sixth, behind Leclerc; and ‘Checo’ two, accelerating seventh, behind the Spanish from Ferrari.
Fernando, who had lost one place before the introduction of safety, lost another three after the restart and was twelfth, outside the points zone – which, before the race, he claimed he wanted to defend – after tenth of the 57 planned laps. When his partner, the Canadian Lance Stroll, had already retired.
Alonso accounted for Tsunoda in the fifteenth lap and from there he ended up completing a new outstanding performance, in an endless second youth at the age of 43.
To mathematically secure the Constructors’ World Championship this Sunday, Norris and Piastri had to score fifteen more points than Carlos and Leclerc. And to secure runner-up status, Lando had to capture at least three more points than Charles. Neither of the two premises was fulfilled and Both the team title and the drivers’ runner-up will be decided in the United Arab Emirates.
Passed the halfway point of the test (lap 28) The super predator from the Netherlands was leading with 1.8 over Norris, when it seemed clear that the race was between the two of them. Piastri was running more than ten seconds behind and Leclerc was fourth, 12 seconds behind. Carlos and ‘Checo’ were fifth and sixth; and, after Russell’s stop, Alonso was tenth. Also defending themselves against the Englishman when, upon entering the Magnussen garage, both had gained a position.
The Finnish Valtteri Bottas stepped on a fallen mirror on the track and the damage on the finish line caused Hamilton and Sainz to get punctures; and a safety car was declared again, with the cars passing through the pit lane a couple of times (while the track was being cleaned), at a time when many took the opportunity to stop, among others Fernando and Checo. In the 35, after Hamilton and Piastri did, Carlos stopped – punctured, just like the Englishman; and in a bad stop -, before the safety allowed another dance of entrances to the garage.
The double world champion made a second stop and installed the medium tire, with which he would reach the finish line in seventh place.
In the new exit, Norris put Verstappen in trouble, who endured the pull. ‘Checo’, with the hard tires still cold – in a race with very little degradation -, spun, broke a driveshaft and was out of the race -prolonging their relationship of misfortunes- in lane 40, just after the race was relaunched, in which Hülkenberg ended up in the gravel, so a new safety car was issued.
This time, Verstappen did not give rise to possible setbacks and from then on he dedicated himself to controlling the sprint of 15 laps to which the outcome of the test was reduced. This time it was Norris who suffered from Leclerc’s pressure. Piastri was fourth, ahead of Russell and the Frenchman Pierre Gasly (Alpine) -fifth at the end-, with Sainz and Alonso again in their starting positions: seventh and eighth.
With thirteen to go, the ten-second ‘stop and go’ penalty was announced for Norris, who had not slowed down during the yellow flags, thus clearing Verstappen’s path to a new victory and Leclerc being served on a plate. the second place.
Norris returned to the track fifteenth and last; and Carlos – on a day of bad luck – and Fernando advanced one more place to be sixth and seventh. The positions with which they crossed the finish line.
Lando minimized damage with the fastest lap and tenth place, two places behind the boy Guanyu Zhou, who will not continue in F1 next year, but who, by finishing eighth, added the first places of the year for his team, Kick. Sauber. And both the drivers’ runners-up and the constructors’ title will be decided within a week, in Abu Dhabi.
*With information from EFE.
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