Tag: Qatar Grand Prix

Qatar Grand Prix results: Verstappen takes the win, McLarens fill podium

Max Verstappen put an emphasis on his championship season Sunday in Qatar.

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen won the Formula 1 World Driver’s Championship on Saturday at Qatar’s sprint race, but that wasn’t going to slow him down on Sunday when the actual race came around.

Verstappen won the Qatar Grand Prix, giving him his staggering 14th victory in the 2023 season. Verstappen and Red Bull will officially head into the rest of the season having secured both of F1’s championships.

The race started down a driver when Ferrari had a fuel system issue with Carlos Sainz’ car, making him unable to start the race. It also had a different caveat for an F1 race, as tire manufacturer Pirelli enforced a rule that each team must make at least three stops due to tire degradation in Qatar.

The race started out with a safety car when Mercedes teammates Geroge Russell and Lewis Hamilton collided at the start of the race — Hamilton squeezed Russell and later admitted fault after he had retired the car.  After that, it was a standard affair for Verstappen, who managed to separate time between himself and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri in second place. In the end, Verstappen managed his race well and the McLarens followed suit, with Verstappen winning the race, Piastri coming in second and Lando Norris coming in third.

The race was marred by numerous drivers facing issues with the heat. Williams driver Logan Sargeant had to retire from the race due to heat exhaustion, and other drivers — including Alex Albon and Lance Stroll — had trouble getting out of their cars after the race was concluded.

Here’s how the Qatar Grand Prix turned out on Sunday:

  1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull)
  2. Oscar Piastri (McLaren)
  3. Lando Norris (McLaren)
  4. George Russell (Mercedes)
  5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari)
  6. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin)
  7. Esteban Ocon (Alpine)
  8. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo)
  9. Sergio Perez (Red Bull Racing)
  10. Guanyu Zhou (Alfa Romeo)
  11. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin)
  12. Pierre Gasly (Alpine)
  13. Alexander Albon (Williams)
  14. Kevin Magnussen (Haas)
  15. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri)
  16. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas)
  17. Liam Lawson (AlphaTauri)
  18. Logan Sargeant (Williams) [DNF]
  19. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) [DNF]
  20. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) [DNS]

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Qatar Grand Prix Qualifying: Verstappen easily takes poll, track limit violations rampant

Verstappen will likely go unchallenged on the path to his third title over the weekend after track limits shook up the order.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has a chance to win the World Driver’s Championship during the sprint race at the Qatar Grand Prix on Saturday, but he still isn’t giving up on winning the race on Sunday, either.

Verstappen qualified on pole by a decent margin on Friday, besting the second-fastest driver in Mercedes’ George Russell by almost half a second. The deficit comes during a session that saw numerous violations for track limits enforced in multiple sections of qualifying.

The first notable victim of track limits was Verstappen’s teammate in Sergio Perez, who had his final push lap deleted in Q2. That left Perez starting 13th, making him unlikely to challenge Verstappen and prevent him from winning the championship this weekend. It was McLaren in Q3 that suffered the brunt of it, though — track limits sent driver Lando Norris from second to 10th and Oscar Piastri from third to sixth, hurting their chances to fill up the front rows. Instead, both Russell and Lewis Hamilton will represent Mercedes at the next two spots off Verstappen with Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso rounding out the top 4.

Here’s how qualifying shaped out in Qatar:

  1. Max Verstappen (Red Bull) [1:23.778]
  2. George Russell (Mercedes) [1:24.219]
  3. Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) [1:24.305]
  4. Fernando Alonso (Aston Martin) [1:24.369]
  5. Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) [1:24.424]
  6. Oscar Piastri (McLaren) [1:24.540]
  7. Pierre Gasly (Alpine) [1.24.553]
  8. Esteban Ocon (Alpine) [1.24.763]
  9. Valtteri Bottas (Alfa Romeo) [1:25.058]
  10. Lando Norris (McLaren) [LAP TIME DELETED]
  11. Yuki Tsunoda (AlphaTauri) [1:25.301]
  12. Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) [1:25.328]
  13. Sergio Perez (Red Bull) [1:25.462]
  14. Alexander Albon (Williams) [1:25.707]
  15. Nico Hulkenberg (Haas) [1:25.783]
  16. Logan Sargeant (Williams) [1:26.210]
  17. Lance Stroll (Aston Martin) [1:26.345]
  18. Liam Lawson (AlphaTauri) [1:26.365]
  19. Kevin Magnussen (Haas) [1:27.046]
  20. Zhou Guanyu (Alfa Romeo) [1:27.432]