Lewis Hamilton reduced the deficit to championship leader Max Verstappen with a win at the in augural Qatar Grand Prix. Verstappen overcame a five place grid penalty to finish second, with Fernando Alonso a brilliant 3rd in the Alpine.

Verstappen’s five place penalty was the talking point of the paddock in the moments preceding the race, with Red Bull Honda’s Christian Horner summoned to the Stewards for a breach of the International Sporting code in the aftermath of comments made in an interview on Sky F1.

Horner had criticised what he termed a ‘rogue’ marshal for waving a single and then a double yellow flag, which was the catalyst for Verstappen’s grid penalty. The Dutch driver deemed to have ignored the signal to reduce speed during the qualifying session.

“I spoke with the FIA. I apologised if any offence in any way was created, because it wasn’t the intention,” said Horner. “My frustration wasn’t with an individual marshal. It was with a situation where one car had no yellow. One car gets a single yellow, one car gets a double yellow. So it’s the inconsistency across that.

Some comments were made, I think, in our interview earlier where you asked me about the marshalling and…. I’d like to make it clear that marshals do a wonderful, wonderful job,” he told Sky. “They are volunteers, and they do a great job. And my frustration in what I voiced earlier wasn’t at marshals, it was at a circumstance. So if any offence was taken by any individual, then obviously I apologise for that.”

With emotions already at a high Lewis Hamilton led the revised grid on the formation lap with Verstappen demoted to 7th on the grid after notification of his penalty just 90 minutes before the race start. That promoted Pierre Gasly to 2nd on the grid from Alonso, Norris, Sainz and Bottas.

Hamilton had his own concerns for the start of the race. The pole sitter had managed to qualify on the preferred medium tyre option, however the likes of Gasly, Alonso, Norris and Verstappen behind had all run the softer compound tyres during the highly competitive second qualifying session the evening before.

The #44 Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 led off the line and immediately looked to defend his lead from those closing rapidly on the softer tyre. He swept through Turn 1 with a one car length advantage over Gasly and Alonso. Verstappen held a tight line through the corner to sneak past Norris and Sainz who touched briefly as their wheels interlocked at the corner. Verstappen was then forced wide two corners later as a charging Norris looked to reclaim the position. 

Gasly and Alonso also touched wheels as the pair squabbled over second place with Alonso eventually the victor as Hamilton streaked away to a 1.8 second lead from the battles behind. Valtteri Bottas, Sebastian Vettel and Daniel Ricciardo lost ground in the heat of the battle on that opening lap with the Mercedes-AMG Petronas driver in 11th, the Mclaren 16th and the Aston Martin Cognizant one place further back.

After a frantic opening lap the order soon stabilised, with the exception of Verstappen. The #33 sat in the tow of the Alpha Tauri by the end of lap 3 and then used a combination of his car’s superior pace and DRS to sweep ahead of Gasly and then Alonso in quick succession.

By lap 10 the Grand Prix had become a two horse race for the win. Hamilton held a comfortable 5 second lead over Verstappen with Alonso still 3rd a further 13 seconds behind. Gasly, Norris and Perez were within striking distance of one another in a scrap for 4th place, while Ocon, Saniz, Bottas and Stroll completed the top 10 with a second or so between each. Ricciardo had made some progress forward and now sat in 13th, though Vettel was still behind Giovinazzi and Russell in 16th.

Gasly was the first of the lead group to make a pit stop on lap 14 and resumed in 18th position while Verstappen and Hamilton traded fastest laps at the pointy end of the field. The #33 was the next int the pits on lap 18 with a change to the hard tyre, while Hamilton covered that move on the following lap.

Race strategies came into play during the middle stages of the race as the top 10 became a mix of cars that had already taken their first stop amongst others who continued on what appeared to be a one stop approach. By lap 28 it was Hamilton from Verstappen, Bottas, Sainz, Alonso, Perez, Leclerc, Gasly, Norris and Ocon.

The race had become a game of Snakes and Ladders for Ricciardo. He had climbed into the points before his first stop dropped him back down to 15th. A subsequent fuel consumption issue effectively stymied him throughout the second half of the race. It was the second race in succession where power unit related issues had brought the Australian’s race undone.

“We ran into some issues with fuel, and we had to save which dictated our race. So, not sure what happened but we obviously need to look into it,” Ricciardo later told McLaren Media.

A puncture for Bottas on lap 34 saw the Finn pit once more, which played on the mind of the drivers who had planned on a single stop race. Most notably both Verstappen and Hamilton radioed concerns with tyre vibrations to their engineers. By lap 42 of 57 the two leaders stopped again with medium tyres fitted once more for the final 15 laps to the finish. Despite the stops both drivers still held a 34 second advantage over 3rd placed Alonso.

“Tell Ocon to defend like a lion,” radioed Alonso to his team with his hopes of a podium teetering as Perez closed on the second Alpine driver in 5th place.

Lando Norris had sat comfortably in 5th place as the race ticked down, only to drop down to 9th after another puncture on the hard tyres saw him pit on lap 50. George Russell suffered the same fate on lap 51, while Valtteri Bottas was told to retire his Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 with a mechanical issue.

Nicholas Latifi was another of the Mercedes powered drivers to encounter mechanical problems and stopped on track with 3 laps left to run. The retirement triggered a Virtual Safety Car as official scrambled to remove the Williams from the run off area.

Lewis Hamilton went on take the win from Verstappen, who managed to record the fastest lap of the race and therefore minimise the damage to his championship lead. Alonso finished 3rd ahead of Perez, Ocon, Stroll, Sainz, Leclerc, Norris and Vettel. The result saw Lewis Hamilton move to within 8 points of the championship leader.

“it was pretty straight forward, pretty lonely at the front,” Hamilton told Sky Sports. “I enjoy those races where you are battling through, but we needed those points today. A real solid job from the team in the pitstops and with the car. I can’t wait to watch the replay of the race to see what happened behind me. I’m not really sure why people’s tyres were going, But I think it may have been the kerbs. I’m really grateful for these points, it’s been a hell of a year!”

Photos: f1.com

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