Not even the hangover from his third title slowed down Max Verstappen one bit, who celebrated his three-time championship on Saturday with another ride in Qatar. The Dutchman scored his 14th victory in 17 races, that is, an effectiveness of 82% that surpasses anything seen in history, and is on his way to shattering his own record of wins in a season (15 achieved in 2022). : You have five races to further raise the bar of victories.
Fernando Alonso, who reached podium positions (3rd), was overtaken by Norris and Leclerc, and had to settle for 6th place, while Carlos Sainz could not participate in the race due to a breakdown of the Ferrari's fuel system before hitting the track.
Closed night in Lusail. The five traffic lights went out and Verstappen, the three-time champion, maintained the first pole position, but an aggressive Hamilton tried to sneak in from the left, who entered the first corner crossed and collided with Russell, so Lewis went to the rear. gravel into the first corner and George dropped to 14th place. The safety-car had to appear.
The biggest beneficiary of Hamilton's disaster was Fernando Alonso, who gained one position, from fourth to third. The Asturian's options were growing, just behind Oscar Piastri, to be able to fight Verstappen for victory. Behind him he had Leclerc, Ocon and Norris.
While Verstappen picked up cruising speed and accumulated more than 2 seconds of advantage over Piastri, the dance of stops began to change the tires, which in Qatar would be required with a maximum of 18 laps of tire life (for safety reasons , due to the high degradation of the Pirelli tires on the circuit's curbs).
Alonso stopped on lap 12, Piastri and Leclerc one later, so that the Monegasque Ferrari driver gained the position (overcut), but the Asturian regained it when he went out on the track, due to his warmer tires. He saved the first challenge for the podium, the theoretical third position.
Thus, as a result of the first pass through the pit-stop of all the cars (v. 22), Verstappen led with a greater margin (7.8 seconds over Piastri), Alonso moved away from the McLaren (5s away), but changed pursuer , an aggressive, threatening Norris with great pace (he was 2s behind the Asturian), who had surpassed Leclerc and Ocon in the stop.
For Alonso, Norris's McLaren was a real threat. Aston Martin delayed the second stop, one lap after Leclerc and Piastri, and fitted him with hard tires. But those from Woking stopped Norris a lap later, which was stratospheric (1.8 seconds, the fastest of the year) and the Briton gained position over Alonso, who dropped to provisional 4th place, although ahead of Leclerc. .
Alonso starred in the anecdote of the race, asking his team to "do something" because his seat was "burning", from the infernal heat of Qatar (33ºC) and the track. "Pour me water, or something," the Asturian asked. "It will be difficult," his track engineer told him.
The Asturian ruined his race with an unexpected off-track on lap 33. Alonso lost control of his Aston Martin and went into the gravel, giving up the position to Russell and Leclerc and dropping to virtual 6th place. His incorporation onto the track was not excessively clean either, which is why the stewards investigated it.
In the third pit stop (between laps 44 and 52) the positions of those who were at risk for the podium did not change. Piastri kept 2nd place safe from his teammate Norris, who had the best pace on the track, while Alonso was unable to overtake Leclerc in 5th. Russell, who extended the stop to put on the soft tires in the last section, remained the same, fourth.
Nothing changed in the final stretch of the race. Verstappen shined again (he took the title, victory, pole and best lap of the race from Qatar) and the McLarens were the best in the rest of the world with the second consecutive double.
